This image stated as just a desire to image NGC 1333 but once I saw other images and checked the framing in NINA, I decided that the IC 348 region was too interesting to miss, so the idea for this 2 panel mosaic of the region was born. I really liked this part of the sky, as it has a little of everything - emission nebulae, dark nebulae, reelection nebulae, and lots of dust too.

I was able to do much of the data collection with little to no moon, and ended up with 15+ hours on each panel. I took my usual short exposures for star data too, but ended up not using those subframes as the stars were too small. With this Redcat 91 I am finding that the stars are already very small, even in long exposure subframes. I will continue to experiment with this as I go along I think, but in this case I used the stars from the 900 second subframes, and performed a small amount of star reduction on the larger ones to get this result.

NGC 1333 is a reflection nebula and star forming region in Perseus, that is often referred to as the Embryo Nebula. It is thought to be about 960 light years distant. It forms a small but complex region, with blue reflection nebulae, and dark bands of dust that obscure Hα emission regions. Along with IC 348 it is part of the Perseus molecular cloud. IC348 is also a star forming region, which has a larger and more substantial Hα emission region, showing in reddish pink in this image. It is thought to be approximately 1,000 light years away from Earth.