Nebula IC 4628 in Scorpius
author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix
reference: a-nec46-28001
Image Size 300 DPI: 48 * 40 cm
This beautiful, arc-like rim of nebulosity is in the far southern sky, out of sight from most of the USA and Europe. It is quite faint and has often been overlooked because of it, even by southern observers. However, it is in a rich region in Scorpius. This richness is reflected in the number of names associated with the objects in the field illustrated here. There is a large scattered star cluster, Collinder 316 which extends over most of the picture. It encloses Trumpler 24, more or less the same cluster under another name, and all of this is part of the Sco OB1 association, a much larger gathering of very hot, intrinsically luminous stars in this part of the sky. The nebula itself is also known as Gum 56, after the Australian Colin Gum who catalogued emission nebulae in the southern sky using wide field photography.