NGC 2467, nicknamed the “Skull and Crossbones Nebula,” is a star-forming region whose appearance has occasionally also been likened to that of a colorful mandrill. It includes areas where large clouds of hydrogen gas incubate new stars. NGC 2467 had long been considered to be the nucleus of the Puppis I association. However, NGC 2467 does not represent a distinct open cluster; rather, it represents a superimposition of several stellar groups along the same approximate line of sight that have distinctly different distances and distinctly different radial velocities. One of these is a young and very distant group beyond Puppis OB2, while another, nearer group with later type stars lies at a similar distance as Puppis OB1. The region is dominated by a massive young star, HD 64315, of spectral type O6. Two stellar clusters also exist in the area, Haffner 19 and Haffner 18. H19 is a compact cluster containing a Strömgren sphere which is ionized by a hot B0 V type star. H18 contains a very young star, FM3060a, that has just come into existence and still surrounded by its birth cocoon of gas. The age of H19 is estimated to be 2 Myr, while the age H18 is somewhat controversial, some considering it to be as young as only 1 Myr. The field contains other early-type stars such as HD 64568 whose relationship with the clusters is unclear.

Telescope: Planewave CDK17 (FR) f4.5
Mount: Astro Physics 1600GTO
Camera: QHY16200A/ Integral FW
Guider: Agena Starguide II / SBIG STi

H-alpha: 52×10 mins = 520 mins

Total Imaging Time: 18h 40m

Data Imaged remotely over 5 nights during April, May & June, 2021.
Imaged from Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, in partnership with Fred Espenak.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.

None