NGC 1788

My latest image of NGC 1788, an enchanting region in the constellation Orion. This area is a cradle for newborn stars, where the interplay of light from these stars and the surrounding gas and dust creates the nebula’s captivating appearance.

The nebula’s bright blue centre comes from starlight scattering off fine interstellar dust. The young stars within this region emit just enough energy to illuminate their dusty surroundings without fully ionizing them. Surrounding this is a crescent-shaped cloud that glows red, a clear signature of ionized hydrogen gas. H-alpha data was used to highlight this feature, adding depth and contrast to the structure.

P.S. The original data was captured using the remote astronomy platform Telescopelive. The image combines Ha and LRGB data, which I processed using PixInsight and Photoshop.