NGC 604

About image

NGC 604 is a region of ionized hydrogen (H II) inside the Triangle Galaxy (M33), discovered by William Herschel in 1784: inside it there are more than 200 newborn stars that ionize the gases of the nebula. 

NGC 604 is one of the largest H II regions of the Local group. Considering the estimated distance of the galaxy in which it resides (2.7 million light years), we obtain a diameter of 1500 light years for the widest part: it is therefore over 40 times larger than the visible part of the Orion nebula, and is even 6300 times brighter, so much so that if NGC 604 were at the same distance as the Orion nebula it would appear to us brighter than Venus.                   

Technical data
Optic            GSO RC12 Truss - Aperture 304mm, focal lenght 2432mm, f/8
Mount         10Micron GM2000 HPSII
Camera          Moravian G3-16200 with external filter wheel 7 positions
Filters        Astrodon Gen2 E-Serie Tru-Balance 50mm unmounted LRGB, Ha 5nm  
Guiding system      OAG Moravian M68 with guide camera Moravian G1-0301
Exposure details    L 9x600" bin2 -15C + 18x600" bin2 -20C + 20x60" bin2 -25C 
            R 16x300" bin2 -25C
                          G 16x300" bin2 -25C
                                      B 16x300" bin2 -25C
            Ha 32x900" bin2 -20C                        
Total integration    16.8h
Acquisition        Voyager, PHD2
Processing        Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CS5
SQM-L         21.38    
Location         Promiod (Aosta Valley, Italy), own remote observatory
Date             6 November 2019, 25 August/12-14 September/17 October 2020