Mermaid's Kitchen

[Placidus]

Imaged this area in SMC 2 years ago. Did it again this weekend with the Aspen 16M. Just 3 hours Ha and 3 hours OIII in waxing moonlight. Still rather gritty and needs more exposure, so don't bother zooming in or stretching too much, but so much better than before that we threw out the 13 hours of old data. The open cluster in the middle is NGC 354, and the "blue strawberry" at 6 o'clock is NCG 345. The cluster seems to have created a hollow or cavern in the surrounding gas, giving the impression of a Mermaid's Lair, surrounded by waving brown seaweed. Further compulsory lyrical flights of fancy and various sized images here (http://www.mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/).
Cheers,
Mike n Trish

[RickS]

Lovely little FOV, Mike! I did an image of that area with a GSO RC10 a couple of years back and thought it was quite interesting. I see you got the question mark asterism although it doesn't look so obvious upside down.

[LightningNZ]

Very pretty. It's a cool patch of nebulosity that. I hadn't ever paid it much attention before I started on my SMC mosaic, but it deserves more attention in its own right I reckon.

[Geoff45]

That's very nice Mike.
Geoff

[Ross G]

A very good looking closeup Mike.

Great detail but I think the mermaids are hiding!


Ross.

[Placidus]

Thanks Rick, Cam, Geoff, Ross,

Very glad you like it.

Cheers,
Mike