NGC1579 – the northern Trifid nebula

About the Object

NGC 1579, a.k.a. Northern Trifid, is a star formation region in Perseus. It got its name from the similarity to the famous Trifid nebula M20 on the southern hemisphere- Since M20 is too low on the horizon from my site, it seems that I have to be happy with NGC1579 for the time being  ...

note added: Interesting difference between the northern Trifid (NGC1579) and the more famous southern Trifid (M20): Unlike M20, NGC1579 is predominantly a reflection nebula also for the red part: it get its red color because the illuminating source (LkHα 101) is a strong Halpha emitter, not b/c of Halpha emission of the surrounding gas cloud, as in the case of M20. However, in NGC1579 that light get "processed" (absorbed, rescattered ...) by the surrounding cloud, resulting in a somewhat different color with more shades of yellow - resulting in a less red but more salmon color appearance. So adding a continuum subtracted Ha tends to overly dominate the Halpha emission over the broad band colors. So, in revision E I only used the LRGB frames resulting in a IMO more correct rendition of the red part of the nebula.

Observation Notes

Data were taken on 2024 December 24, 2025 January 6,8,19,20,20, and 2025 February 3, 4

Technical Details

View the full-resolution image together with complete acquisition and processing details on AstroBin.