Community Work: Gum15 - Stellar Winds in the Sails of Vela

Gum 15 is a Star-forming region from the Gum catalog, originally observed by Adam Block for Telescope Live using our CHI-1 telescope. 

The dataset, made of an incredible 20hr of integration time, is offered as a Pro Dataset.

From today, we also offer a 4hr tutorial led by Adam Block, walking you through the advanced processing of this beautiful and rare nebula. 

It is located in the constellation of Vela (The Sails), about 3,000 light-years from Earth.

The glowing cloud is a stunning example of an HII region. Such clouds form some of the most spectacular astronomical objects we can see; for example the Eagle Nebula, the great Orion Nebula, and this less famous example, Gum 15.

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Hydrogen is the most common element in the Universe, and can be found in virtually every environment investigated by astronomers. HII regions are different because they contain substantial amounts of ionized hydrogen – hydrogen atoms that have been stripped of their electrons through high energy interactions with ultraviolet photons.

As the ionized hydrogen nuclei recapture electrons they release light at different characteristic wavelengths. It is one of these that gives nebulae such as Gum 15 their reddish glow – a glow which astronomers call hydrogen alpha (Hα).

At the centre of the image of Gum 15 one can see one of the culprits – the star HD 74804.^[1]

Gum 15 Processed by the Telescope Live Community

Gum 15 by Adam Block

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope:  CHI-1
Filters: Red (6hr), Green (6hr), Blue (6hr)
Processing: Pixinsight

Gum 15 by Thomas Peter

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope: CHI-1
Filters: RGB
Processing: Pixinsight

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"This image is a Pro Data Set from Telescope Live's PlaneWave CDK24/FLI ProLine PL9000 at El Sauce, Chile. It consists of 40 each RGB @600s. The data was excellent quality. I processed this totally in Pixinsight. I've been taking Adam Block's "Fundamentals" and "Horizon's" courses for Pixinsight and I find them to be an invaluable resource in my image processing journey!
Anyway, hope ya like it!
Tom" Thomas Peter

Gum 15 by ALAN Richards

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope: CHI-1
Filters: RGB
Processing: Pixinsight, Photoshop, Topaz Labs Adjust, Topaz labs Sharpen

Gum 15 by Graham Conaty

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope: CHI-1
Filters: RGB
Processing: Pixinsight & Adobe Photoshop

Gum 15 by Scotty Bishop

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope: CHI-1
Filters: RGB
Processing: APP and PS2021

"One of the Pro Datasets I ran through APP and Photoshop 2021. I am tempted to spend some credits to snag some L to go along with it to really pull extra detail out."Scotty Bishop

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Gum 15 by Nicolas Rolland

Acquisition: Pro Dataset
Telescope: CHI-1
Filters: RGB
Processing: CCDStack, Pixinsight, Photoshop

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References:
[1]  http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-star-forming-region-gum15-02037.html

Image Credits:
2: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope