IC 2599 is a complex emission nebula located in the constellation Carina, approximately 7,500 light-years away from Earth.
Informally named after the resemblance between the shape of the nebula and the profile of the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, this nebula is home to a cluster of young stars that illuminate the surrounding gas and dust clouds, making the ionized gases glow in bright colors. It was popularized as one of the first targets shot by the James Webb Space Telescope.
The intricate structures within the nebula are formed by the intense radiation and winds from the young stars and the surrounding gas and dust.
About the Deep Space Collection:
Shot entirely with my rooftop telescope from the urban skies of Buenos Aires, the Deep Space Collection features many objects observable only from the southern hemisphere.
All images in the collection were shot using individual narrowband filters which cut off most of the light and allow only very specific wavelengths to pass (the light emitted from ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur), making it possible to photograph deep space objects even from the highly light polluted skies of the city.
The images from each separate filter are then processed individually, combined and mapped to RGB channels for a final color image.
Two different color mapping palettes were used in this collection: SHO, where sulfur is mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue in what is referred to as "Hubble Palette" processing (as used in the images the famous space telescope) and HOO, where hydrogen is mapped to red, and oxygen to blue and green.
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