The complex area of clusters and nebulosity in central Auriga, including: M38 the Starfish Cluster and its smaller companion cluster NGC 1907; the emission/reflection nebulas NGC 1931, IC 417, IC 410 and IC 405 (from right to left here). Magenta and cyan (from emission and reflection components) IC 405 at right is the Flaming Star Nebula. Between IC 405 and IC 410 is the asterism known as The Little Fish. This is a stack of 8 x 7 minute exposures at ISO 800 with the modified Canon 6D on the TMB 92mm apo refractor at f/4.8 with the Borg 0.85x compressor flattener. The night was a little hazy. The field is turned slightly from being oriented with North up as is usual for me, to frame the area better. North is toward about 10 o'clock on this frame.
This is the rich region in the centre of the constellation of Auriga with the Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405 at right, and the roundish IC 410 at bottom with the cluster NGC 1893. At top left is the star cluster Messier 38, with small NGC 1907 below it. The small nebula at left is IC 417 around the loose cluster Stock 8. The large elongated nebula at top is Sharpless 2-230. The colourful asterism of stars between IC 405 and IC 410 is the Leaping Minnow or Little Fish, aka Mel 31. This is a blend of 8 x 4-minute exposures at ISO 800 unfiltered with 8 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 2000 shot through an Optolong L-Enhance dual-band nebula enhancement filter (it lets through only Oxygen III blue-green and Hydrogen-alpha red to really enhance the nebulosity). Blending the exposures adds the extensive red nebulosity recorded by the filtered images without turning the whole field — and stars — red and losing the blue reflection nebulas and subtle colour variations even in the red Ha nebulas. All exposures with the Canon EOS Ra mirrorless camera through the SharpStar HNT150 Hyperbolic Newtonian Astrograph at f/2.8, from home on a very clear moonless night January 24, 2020. All stacked, aligned and blended in Photoshop 2020. High pass sharpening applied as well as a very selective use of frequency separation sharpening with WOW Freq Equalizer extension.
The Messier star cluster M38 at left, with the smaller NGC 1907 cluster below, amid a complex field of nebulosity in central Auriga, including from left to right: IC 417 (at bottom), IC 410 (lower right), and IC 405 (at upper right), aka the Flaming Star Nebula. This is a stack of 6 x 6 minute exposures at ISO 800 with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII, and through the 92mm TMB apo refractor with the Borg 0.85x flattener/reducer for f/4.5. Mounted on the Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount for testing. Taken on a -10° night on January 4, 2018 from home. Guided with the Starshoot auto-guider run by PHD2 on the Macbook. Diffraction spikes added with Noel Carboni’s Astronomy Tools actions.
