June 2025 - Picture of the Month
NGC6188 (Rim Nebula) in Ara
It must be obvious by now that I've a fondness for dust and star formation. So there should be little surprise at this fabulous image of another region of the night sky that's made for astrophotography.
NGC 6188 (RCW 108) is an emission nebula sculpted from the edge of a large molecular cloud by the massive stars of the Ara OB1a association, many of which can be found in nearby NGC 6193. A particularly rare and massive star is embedded in the centre of NGC 6164 (RCW 108) on the left side of this image. We're looking at a structure that appears very like a planetary nebula, but it's all created by the radiation from this O-type star, HD 148937, a supernova in the making. Supernovae probably had a lot to do with the structure of NGC 6193 itself, and possibly the initiation of the star formation across this region.
All of this lies some 4,000 light-years from us, although northern observers will have to use a remote telescope in order to capture this object, or travel south just as Suzanne did. I'll conclude this month with some words from Suzanne's journal of that trip.
This image of NGC6188 Rim Nebula (a.k.a. The Fighting Dragons of Ara) was captured during my first (to be annual - I just returned in early April 2025 from my second) trip to image from the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. It was the most amazing trip, in all respects!
I stayed at the San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations (SPACE) Atacama Lodge…a magical place, whose owner Alain Maury knows the Southern Hemisphere skies like the back of his hand. During that trip, I had six nights of dark, clear skies – something I have never experienced! As a matter of fact, I ran out of preplanned targets, never daring to imagine that I would be able to image every night of the trip!
I'm very honored to have been selected as the Webb Deep-Sky Society's Picture of the Month. This image also won 1st prize in the 2024 Astronomical League’s Williamina Fleming Imaging Award competition…dark skies really do make a huge difference!
James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.
