CHI-6 - Chameleon Molecular Cloud and Cederblad 111

CHI-6 -
Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud
and Cederblad 111

Cederblad 111 (Ced 111) is a blue reflection region in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon and is part of one of the closest (~550 light years) dark cloud complexes to the Sun. Ced 110 is the bright reflection in the lower portion of the image with the distinct bright arc. Both are part of Cha I dark cloud complex. The median age is estimated at ~2 Myr. The cloud complex is a stellar nursery and many new stars have been detected through their variability and H-a emission. The small, elongated, bright red objects at the center of the image are Hebrig-Haro objects (HH 49-50), which form from a collision between ionized jets of gas ejected from newly born stars and the surrounding cloud.

CHI-6 is an Officina Stellare RH200, a 20-cm F3 reflector, situated in the Rio Hurtado valley, Chile. It is equipped with a set of Astrodon astrophotography filters and thanks to its wide field of view it's an ideal instrument astrophotography of large nebulae.