IC 2177, popularly known as the “Seagull Nebula,” is a region of dust clouds, emission nebulas, reflection nebulas, and star clusters that lies along the border between the constellations Canis Major and Monoceros. It appears to have formed as the result of at least three separate supernova explosions over the past six million years. The shock waves from the explosions are pushing interstellar gas and dust together, triggering star formation.
An interesting feature is bow shock wave around the star at far right. Data from the GAIA space mission shows that this is a runaway star, traveling at high speed. It was likely ejected from an open cluster by a nearby supernova explosion one million years ago. The shock wave results from it slamming into the nebulous region at high speed.
Imaged on the evening of 13 February 2023 from Summerfield, NC (Bortle 4/5), using Explore Scientific 127mm FCD-100 APO refractor with field flattener/reducer, EQ6-R Pro mount, cooled ZWO ASI1600MM camera and filter wheel. Seeing was poor; the atmosphere was very unsteady, and guiding was not very precise. Exposures: Ha – 23 x 300 sec; SII – 18 x 300 sec; OIII – 21 x 300 sec. Total integration time 5 hours 10 minutes. Imaged integrated and processed using Pixinsight.