A collection of bright star clusters and colourful nebulas in central Auriga. Messier 36, aka the Pinwheel Cluster, is at far left. Messier 38, aka the Starfish Cluster, is at top left, with the small cluster NGC 1907 below it. The large nebula at right is IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula surrounding and extending from the star AE Aurigae. The part of the nebula around the star is blue reflection nebulosity. The large nebula at bottom is IC 410 surrounding a loose star cluster NGC 1893. The small nebula left of centre is IC 417. The smaller nebula between IC 417 and Messier 36 is NGC 1931. The colourful group of stars between IC 405 and 410 at right is the Little Fish asterism. This is a stack of 8 x 8-minute exposures through the Borg 77mm f/4 astrograph and with the Canon EOS Ra red-sensitive mirrorless camera, at ISO 800. Stacked, aligned and processed in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop 2020. No nebula or light pollution reduction filter was employed in taking the images. I shot this from home November 25, 2019 on a very fine if frosty autumn night. The Dew Destroyer heater coil from David Lane wrapped around the front objective nicely kept off the frost. As the temperature was -10° C, I did not employ Long Exposure Noise Reduction or take and apply dark frames.
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.
