NGC 3576

 

NGC 3576 — Click Image to enlarge

This was an unnamed nebula in the constellation Carina, aka NGC 3576, until I imaged it from CTIO in Chile in 2009 and noted the right portion of the nebula had an uncanny resemblance to that famous lady who greets visitors in New York Harbor…the Statue of Liberty!  The rest, as they say, is history. NGC 3576 is now referred to as the “Statue of Liberty Nebula” by the worldwide amateur astronomy community.  For more details, please see the higher resolution version of Miss Liberty HERE.

Technical details:

Takahashi FSQ 106 (piggybacked on a 16″ RCOS), SBIG STL 11K, and Paramount ME. Image scale is 3.5″/pixel.

Baader NB Filters, with Ha 8 hours, OIII 6 hours, and SII 6 hours, all unbinned.

Astrodon RGB filters, 1 hour/channel.

Processing was with Maxim, Registar, Sigma Combine, and Photoshop.