RCW 33 (GUM 17)

HII Regions, Vela

March 2024. Observatorio El Sauce, Chile

The main object in this image is RCW 33 (also know as Gum 17), it is an HII region in the constellation of Vela. Top right shows RCW 32 (Gum 15), and just right of center is the open cluster, NGC 2671. Bottom right displays some of the filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant.
The RCW Catalogue (from Rodgers, Campbell & Whiteoak) is an astronomical catalogue of Hα-emission regions in the southern Milky Way, described in (Rodgers et al. 1960). It contains 182 objects, including many of the earlier Gum catalogue (84 items) objects. The later Caldwell catalogue included some objects from the RCW catalogue. There is also some overlap with the Sharpless catalogue-2 (312 items), although that primarily covered the northern hemisphere, whereas RCW and Gum primarily covered the southern hemisphere. The RCW catalogue was compiled by Alexander William Rodgers, Colin T. Campbell and John Bartlett Whiteoak. They catalogued southern nebulae while working under Bart Bok at the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia in the 1960s.

Telescope: Astro Physics 155EDF (TCC) f5.4
Mount: Astro Physics 1600GTO
Camera: FLI PL29050 / CFW2-7
Guider: Agena Starguide II / ZWO ASI178MM
Filters: Astrodon II 50mm LRGB

L: 68×10 mins = 680 mins, R: 24×10 mins = 240 mins, G: 21×10 mins = 210 mins, B: 24×10 mins = 240 mins

Total Imaging Time: 22h 50m

Data Imaged remotely on 7 nights during March 2024.
Imaged from Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, in partnership with Fred Espenak.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.