NGC 7380, The Wizard Nebula, also known as Sh2-142, lies 7,200 light-years from Earth. The intense ultraviolet light from the cluster of hot, blue, type O and B stars born of this molecular cloud, are ionizing the surrounding hydrogen, which then re-emits light at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength of 656.28 nanometers, in the red part of the spectrum. Fierce stellar winds from the stars are also sculpting the gas and dust in the nebula into numerous bizarre shapes. Also, one of the stars above the center has evolved into a Wolf-Rayet star, which has even stronger stellar winds capable of blowing a bubble in the surrounding nebula. For more information on these processes, see my article on stellar winds in the August 2016 issue of Astronomy Magazine.
Image Data:
Telescope/Mount:Celestron Compustar C14 with Astro Physics 0.75x focal reducer.
Camera:SBIG STL 11000M with Baader Planetarium Ha, L, R, G, and B filters.
Dates: 2013-07-23 to 2013-08-12
Location: Pommier Observatory, Portland, Oregon, USA
Exposures: Ha:L:R:G:B=360:100:50:50:50=10 hours 10 minutes total exposure
Image D