Characteristics:
Magnitude:  9.0 (for NGC 1999 itself)
Size: ?
Distance: about 1,500 light years
RA: 5h 36m 25s
Dec: Minus 6 degrees 42' 57"

Description:
NGC1999 is the small, bluish reflection nebula located below center in this image, surrounded by an outwardly expanding region of Ha-emitting gas.  There is a triangular shaped region of dense dust within NGC1999 that can be better appreciated on higher magnification, as well as in this Hubble image.  This entire region is a very active star forming factory, with multiple Herbig-Haro objects which represent bow shocks induced by vigorous jets of gas emitted by unstable protostars.  Richard Crisp has outlined several Herbig-Haro objects in this region on his webpage, and many of these can be seen in the above image.

Photographic Details:
Date:  February 5 and 6, 2005
Scope:  Takahashi Sky 90 at f4.5 with field flattener/focal reducer, on the G11 Losmandy Mount.
Autoguider:  SBIG STV with e-finder.
Camera:  SXV-H9
Filter:  Astronomik Ha filter (13 nm bandpass); Type II R, G, B filter set.
Exposures:  Ha:(HaR:G:B).  45 x 5' for Ha (3.75 hours total for Ha, unbinned); 5 x 3' each for R, G, and B (binned 2x2).
Conditions:  Temperature 28 degrees F; above average transparency; average seeing; calm.
Post-processing:  No darks, flats, or bias frames used.  Autoaligned in Maxim.  Sigma combined using RC Sigma Reject Plug-in for MaximDL.  DDP was performed in ImagesPlus (IP).  Subsequent levels and curves adjustments in Photoshop CS (16 bit format).  Selective use of Neat Image for smoothing.  Ha was combined with RGB using the technique of Luminance Corrected RGB.  Even though the Ha exposure was quite deep, this region is full of faint nebulosity that could have used an even longer exposure.  Notice the delicate tendrils of gas in the upper right hand portion of the image.

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