Gum 14 is a large emission nebula complex that also includes the bright and prominent reflection nebula NGC 2626, which is illuminated by a 10th magnitude star. Gum 14 is ionized by the supergiant star HD 73882 and was first catalogued in 1955 by the Australian astronomer Colin Gum. Subsequently, it was also included in the RCW catalogue in 1960 and is therefore also known as RCW 27. With a size of approximately 2 degrees, this giant nebula is the largest of a prominent grouping of emission nebulae to the north of the Vela Supernova remnant. Along with Gum 14, this group is comprised of the smaller Gum 15 (RCW 32) and the almost equally large Gum 17 (RCW 33). Gum 14 is a fairly active site of star formation and has an extensive series of dark clouds and bright rimmed globules. Detailed observations and studies by professional astronomers have also uncovered a small collection of Herbig Haro objects (not visible at a widefield scale) and cometary reflection nebulae associated with young stellar objects. Also visible near the top edge is the small planetary nebula Hen 2-11, one of hundreds discovered by the famous astronomer Karl Henize in the 1960's (text provided by Sakib Rasool) Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - Ha (300m) L (270m) R (120m) G (120m) B (130m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars in the constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the prominent Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across this scene the Dark Doodad seems punctuated at its southern tip (lower left) by globular star cluster NGC 4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy, a background object some 20,000 light-years away and only by chance along our line-of-sight to the Dark Doodad. The Dark Doodad's well defined silhouette belongs to the Musca molecular cloud, but its better known alliterative moniker was first coined by astro-imager and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing comet Halley from the Australian outback. The Dark Doodad is around 700 light-years distant and over 30 light-years long (text adapted from APOD). Full resolution image shown at about 75% of original resolution. Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - 2 panels mosaic, total L (440m) R (300m) G (300m) B (300m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape. At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails) the telescopic frame is about 4 degrees wide, centered on the brightest glowing filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant, an expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the supernova explosion that created the Vela remnant reached Earth about 11,000 years ago. In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense, rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar. Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely embedded in a larger and older supernova remnant, the Gum Nebula (text adapted from APOD). Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - 4 panels mosaic, total Ha (1440m) OIII (1200m) R (480m) G (480m) B (360m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
