This emission nebula is one of the youngest star-forming regions in our galaxy. Some components of it are only few million years old. In the cosmic time scale, this is basically star birth happening in front of our eyes. This nebula also contains the hottest star found within 1 kpc of our Sun, the BD+66 1673, which has the surface temperature of 45,000 K and the luminosity 100,000 times that of the Sun. It is primarily responsible for ionizing the gas of the nebula and for compressing it by the strong stellar wind, leading to creation of new stars.
This light travelled for 3,000 years before reaching my yard in Victoria, BC in June 2024.
NGC 7822 is a large target, filling the full-frame sensor of my camera attached to a 478 mm-long telescope. This is a 3.5 hr-long RGB exposure at f/5.9, processed using a Foraxx palette.
