The open star cluster NGC 7380 is surrounded by a collection of interstellar gas known as The Wizard Nebula. It is located in the constellation Cepheus, around 7200 light-years from Earth, and has an apparent magnitude of 7.2. For telescope eyepiece observations of Sh2-142 (Sharpless catalog), extremely dark sky and an OIII filter are necessary. In this deep sky object, interstellar gas and dust have combined to form a shape like that of a wizard or sorcerer.
With an OSC camera, this image was processed in SHO pallete. This time, I wanted a color transition starting with red, yellow, green, and blues. Just a personal opinion, I like having a bit green in the image.
Fun Facts:
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. This picture of the open star cluster NGC 7380 is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full Moon.
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