The Statue of Liberty Nebula, NGC 3576
Nicolas says: “I like this image because it represents a real pareidolia game, without good or bad answers; as well as the distinctive shape of the Statue of Liberty, you can also make out a dragon head and a crocodile side. You can let your imagination run wild. From a scientific point of view, it showcases dense knots of dark interstellar dust, bright stars formed a few million years ago and huge fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars.”
Equipment: SBIG STXL-11002 camera, PlaneWave 17” CDK astrograph, Paramount ME mount Exposure: Ha, SII, OIII 20 x 1,800” each, RGB stars 8 x 1,200” each: 36.6h total Software: CCDstack, PixInsight, Photoshop
Nicolas’s top tips: “Astrophotography takes