Flying Owl Nebula of the LMC by Zaytsev and Hanson
Wonderful Description and Annotation By Alex Zaytsev
The area shown in this image is a part of LMC-4 superbubble is located North-East of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) contains a rich collection of HII regions and supernova remnants (SNR) fitting in between the NGC 2041 globular cluster [1] and the NGC 2030 (also known as LMC N63 or LHA 120-N63) HII region [2]. The positioning of this area with respect to the main body of the LMC is illustrated by the wide angle image available under [3], where it can be identified by a quadrilateral connecting the following objects:
● LHA 120-N64A emission nebula [4] / DEM L 253 HII region [5],
● NGC 2030 [2] / SNR B0535-66.0 [6],
● LHA 120-N55A star forming region [7] / DEM L 228b HII region [8],
● NGC 2041 [1].
The size of the side of the image of 64 arc.min corresponds to 2.9kly at the distance to LMC taken as 158kly. Given the size of this subregion of the LMC, there are numerous objects of particular interest found in it, of which those occupying the upper segment of the image are listed and shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Upper segment of the image showing the arrangement of HII regions and SNR remnants around TYC 8891-846-1 star [9], going left to right here are: (a) NGC 2041 globular cluster [1], (b) 2MASS J05375351-6654269 galaxy [10] (c) LMC N65 (LHA 120-N65) HII region [11], (d) SNR J053731-662740 [12] / DEM L 251 HII region [13], and (e) LHA 120-N64A [4] / DEM L 253 HII region [5]. Shown at 100% of the original image resolution.
The most interesting combination of objects in this scene is located in the mid-right segment listed and shown in Fig. 2, with some additional details shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 2. The portion of the image (mid-right segment) containing a combination of interstellar shell [KDS99] SGS 14 [14], emission nebulae and what appear to be a collection of shock fronts forming a structure much resembling the shape of bird mid-flight, hereinafter referred to as a “Flying Owl Nebula”. One of the shock fronts inside this nebula is formed by (a) Brey 51 Wolf-Rayet star [15], and the other shock front identified here is (b) LHA 120-N 62A [16]. A distant galaxy (c) LEDA 178603 [17] also makes an appearance here. The pair of (d) NGC 2030 HII region [2] and SNR B0535-66.0 [6] is also visible here in the upper right corner. Shown at 100% of the original image resolution.
Fig. 3. The structure of the shock fronts mid-lower forming the left “wing base” of the Flying Owl nebula - a cropped image shown at 200% of original resolution: (a) Brey 51 Wolf-Rayet star [15] and the shock front associated with it, (b) and (c) - two other larger fronts.
The most prominent structure featured in the mid-lower segment of the image is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. The mid-lower segment of the image contains the following structures: (a) LHA 120-N55A star forming region [7] and (b) DEM L 228b HII region [8] of an unusual bi-polar shape with a bridge in the middle. Shown at 100% of the original image resolution.
Data and initial calibration/integration: Alexandr Zaytsev https://www.astrobin.com/users/m57ring/
ASA-N D=0.5m, f/3.8 on German equatorial mount, FLI ProLine 16803 (Telescope #3 system of ChileScope observatory, Río Hurtado Valley, Chile).
18x Ha + 18x OIII + 18x SII guided 600 sec exposures (9h of combined integral) collected over 6 imaging sessions carried out on Jan 30, 31, 2024 and Feb 1, 7, 8, 9, 2024 using Chilescope Telescope #3 system.
Image Processing: Mark Hanson https://www.hansonastronomy.com
Enjoy, Mark and Alex
[3] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Eso1021d.jpg
[5] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%403068239&Name=DEM%20L%20253&submit=submit
[6] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=SNR+B0535-66.0&
[7] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=LHA+120-N+55A&
[8] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=DEM+L+228b&
[10] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=2MASS+J05375351-6654269&
[11] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%403068780&Name=LHA%20120-N%20%2065&submit=submit
[12] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%404502403&Name=SNR%20J053731-662740&submit=submit
[13] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=%403068240&Name=DEM%20L%20251&submit=submit
[15] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Brey+51&
[17] https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=LEDA+178603&NbIdent=1&Radius=2&Radius.unit=arcmin&submit=submit+id
chscope-t104-Dor-LMC-T1-S2 processing annotation
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Close-up view to Flying Owl Nebula of the LMC by Zaytsev and Hanson
North-East of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a peculiar combination interstellar shell, emission nebulae, and a collection of shock fronts forming a structure that we called earlier a “Flying Owl Nebula” is located, for which earlier image was obtained using the Chilescope T3 system (ASA-N D=0.5m, f/3.8). Here we present the closer view to it obtained with the Chilescope T1 system (ASA Ritchey-Chretien RC-1000: D=1m, f/6.8) revealing its internal structure in much greater detail, using a similar color schema, but in different orientation and mirroring - aimed to increase the resemblance of the the scene to that of a flying owl.
The size of the side of the image of 17.7 arc.min corresponds to 816ly at the distance to LMC taken as 158kly. The bubble in the middle of composition is identified as interstellar shell [KDS99] SGS 14 [14] which is 290ly across by a longer axis, to which multiple arcs of emission nebulae are connected. One of those arcs contains 3 shock fronts highlighted in Fig. 1, one of which appears to be related to the Brey 51 Wolf-Rayet star [15]. The origin for the other two fronts isn’t so easily identifiable. Several distant galaxies are showing up in the background of this image, the most notable of which is LEDA 178603 [17] also shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. The structure of the shock fronts mid-lower forming the left “wing base” of the Flying Owl nebula - a cropped image shown at 100% of original resolution: (a) Brey 51 Wolf-Rayet star [15] and the shock front associated with it, (b) and (c) - two other larger fronts. A distant galaxy (d) LEDA 178603 [17] also makes an appearance here in the lower-left corner.
Data and initial calibration/integration: Alexandr Zaytsev https://www.astrobin.com/users/m57ring/
ASA Ritchey-Chretien RC-1000: D=1m, f/6.8 on alt-azimuthal direct drive fork mount, FLI ProLine 16803 with secondary mirror based motorized focusing and automatic de-rotation (Telescope #1 system of ChileScope observatory, Río Hurtado Valley, Chile).
11x Ha + 11x OIII + 10x SII guided 1200 sec exposures (10h40min of combined integral) collected over 7 imaging sessions carried out on Mar 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 2024 using Chilescope Telescope #1 system.
Image Processing: Mark Hanson https://www.hansonastronomy.com
Enjoy, Mark and Alex