Posted in the Deep Sky forum but relevant here.
A comparison of NGC 7793 in visible and near infrared (NIR).
While the NIR image is relatively featureless compared to the visible image, it does show stars that are bright in NIR. Not sure if these are rare carbon stars or your common garden variety red dwarf.
It could be a worthwhile challenge to obtain a spectrum of one of these stars for identification.
Each image was composed of 3 hrs of visible and NIR luminance and combined to 1 hr R, G and B colour.
Scope BRC 250, ST-X10ME CCD.
Higher resolution.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjastro...ison_Stars.jpg
Regards
Steven