LDN 388 - "The Hammerhead"

[Andy01]

Continuing my exploration of a galaxy map Ha survey, I stumbled across this rare if ever imaged target. :astron:

Located south of it's more famous cousins M16 & M17, this Ha rich dark neb is a Hammerhead shaped dark dust cloud surrounded by a curtain of jellyfish like diaphanous tendrils of Ha.

It's feint too - this is 14 hrs of Ha and 2hrs each of RG&B, presented as an HaRGB image using the Marco Lorenzi method.
Although it taken from my LP rich Melbourne backyard, I'm reasonably pleased with the results.
(although I'm not on my calibrated monitor, so hoping the colours are ok)

No apparent O3 or S2 present, so I'm guessing this is a pretty old DSO.
Maybe M&T can postulate it's origins and formation ... :question:

There's a big one HERE (https://www.astrobin.com/full/354137/B/)
and the HA only version is Here (https://www.astrobin.com/354137/0/)

Something different anyway, C&C always welcome :)

EDIT: Just added a screenshot of the Ha survey so you can see where this thing resides near it's more famous neighbours.

[Placidus]

Hi, Andy!

The dark nebulosity is beautifully and intriguingly captured. Well done!

The presence of H-alpha but the absence of OIII and SII indicates that this is a young region (not many left!), without very hard ionization (hence no obvious OIII, and no OB stars nearby), and without much in the way of dredged-up multiply processed star-guts (no supernovas), so not much SII.

It is also obviously quite faint, still gritty after a whopping 14 hours, so either not very thick material, or very low ionizing flux.

So a nice quiet place to bring up a family.

Later, in a million years perhaps, big hot baby stars should come bursting out screaming from all that dust, demanding the car keys, and practicing burn-outs on the corner.

Best,
MnT

[Atmos]

Great wide field Andy! I'm hoping to pick this up with my wide field when the skies cooperate more so I'd be interested to see it all in context in time :)

As you're looking toward the centre of the Milky Way there are going to be large clouds of Ha that have not as of yet become dense enough to start another wave of star formation. Only small portions of molecular clouds ever become stars and the vast majority of any cloud gets blown away either by stellar winds of the newly forming stars or via supernova of ones that have formed not long earlier.

As Mike has said, the lack of obvious OIII or SII is due to the lack of recent star formation (supernova). Given its size and faintness and location (many objects within that region are only 6-8,000 lightyears away, I would imagine that it is a large molecular cloud that has been dormant for a long time but will eventually, due to gravity, become more dense and form another region akin to the M16/17 regions not too far away.

[Andy01]

Lol, that's hilarious - too funny Mike!:rofl::rofl::rofl:



Wow, thanks guys for your insights - I realize that I only take pretty pictures, but you two have really put some flesh on the bones of what we're seeing - thanks! :thanx:

[strongmanmike]

An intriguing area that Andy, good job from suburbia, love the Black Angel fish :thumbsup:

I also really like the Ha only version.

Mike

[gregbradley]

A beautiful image Andy and that's great you are looking for new and rarely imaged areas.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Well done Andy. Not my favourite patch of sky, but a good rendition of a path less trodden. :thumbsup:

[Stevec35]

An interesting field Andy and imaged extremely well as usual. I've just started experimenting with infrared imaging again. I suspect this object would look interesting in the near infrared.

Cheers

Steve

[Andy01]

Lol, thats funny - you're still finding fish in my images :D
Thanks for the encouraging feedback :thumbsup:



Cheers Greg, I do enjpy the pat less travelled, that said hopefully my next image won't disappoint - it's a more popular target :)



Cheer Peter, all good, I get what you mean - cheers :)



Thanks Steve, Infra red has always intrigued me since my bygone days of shooting terrestrial subjects with Konica and Kodak IR film. Often wondered if others did images like THIS ONE (https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/556075-psychedelic-horsehead-in-nirhagb/)

[Ryderscope]

Like a dark cave entrance in a swirling cloud of gas :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Nice Andy. HaRGB blend looks good and good to see you on a dust collecting sojourn; I went on one myself a few years back. So many really cool objects to image.

[RickS]

Nice find, Andy!