NGC 6823 Open Cluster and Nebula in SHO Palette
Thursday, May 21st, 2026 at 5:52:08 PM · 2026/Astrophotography
This is a narrowband astrophotograph of NGC 6823, an open star cluster surrounded by a vast emission nebula located in the constellation Vulpecula, approximately 6,000 light-years away. The image was processed using the SHO (Sulphur-II, Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen-III) Hubble palette, mapping SII to red, Hα to green, and OIII to blue channels, producing the vivid gold, teal, and amber color palette. The bright, white-blue core region reveals the dense cluster of hot young stars whose intense radiation is sculpting the surrounding gas and dust into dramatic pillars and cavities. Dark nebular structures — Bok globules and dust lanes — are prominently silhouetted against the glowing ionized gas, particularly near the central cluster. The total integration time of 2.2 hours was captured with a TMB-92 APO refractor and ZWO ASI533MM Pro monochrome camera, with post-processing including Python-based workflows and Syqon Starless AI star removal.
Chronologically Adjacent
