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GUM36 - AKA RCW 54D

HII REGION IN CARINA (THE KEEL) 

(Image centered at ra: 11h:14m:15s / dec -59º 03')

 

 

May 2026, Home Backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

 

DATA

TYPE: Emission Nebula

Visual Brightness: N/A

APPARENT DIAMETER: The core area is about 15  / 20 arc minutes.

DISTANCE: 8800 light years

 

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: 6" ORION OPTICS UK (Ultra Grade Optics) w/Sky Watcher Coma Corrector (0.9x) working at at f4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 MONO

MOUNT: VIXEN GP DX MOUNT, OAG with QHY 5II Mono

FILTERS:  OPTOLONG LRGB Set Antlia 3nm HA

SKY CONDITIONS: Urban Skies. Bortle 9

EXPOSURES: LHARGB (45,120,45,45,45) - all channels bin 1x1

 

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

This nebula is located almost one degree to the east from NGC 3532. Is a HII region ionized by BO V star HD 97471. There are not many colour images of this nebula in the world wide web. This nebula is also known as Bran 347 and is located at 2700 parsecs or 8800 light years.

RCW 54D is part of RCW 54. A larger HII emission region which is composed in different sub groups as of: RCW 54A; RCW 54B; RCW 54C and RCW 54D.

Close to the nebula but not related is Stock 13, an magnitude 7 open cluster of 3 arc minutes of relative size. This cluster is very loose and practically merged with the stellar background and it is in the centre of the image.