Location/ Date:

Tivoli, Nam / 15.+  16.+ 17. May 2018

Telescope/ Lens:

Hiper Apo 115 mm

Mount:

AP1200.270 PS V8

Camera:

QSI660ws8

Exposure time/ Filter:

20x 600" Astrodon Ha 5nm

Total exposure:

3,3 hours

Description:

IC 4268, also known as Prawn Nebula, is located in the foggy constellation Scorpion. Hot, very massive stars near the nebula illuminate it with invisible, ultraviolet light. The nebula is about 6000 Lj. away from the earth and has an extent of 250 light years.  In the last millions of years, many young stars have formed in this nebula, both as individual stars and as star clusters. A large cluster of stars here is called Collinder 316 and the picture also shows various dark structures and cavities. The interstellar material previously present here was blown away by the strong stellar winds of the young stars.