Located in the constellation Corona Australis (Southern Crown), the spectacular object NGC 6729 (AKA Caldwell 68) is a combined reflection and emission nebula, set within the Australis Molecular Cloud.  Being just south of Sagittarius, it is inaccessible from my observatory in Somerset, so this excellent data was consequently acquired from the dark skies of Chile in the Southern Hemisphere, using a superb Planewave CDK200 f/6.8 508cm aperture telescope at the El Sauce Observatory. 

     

The star illuminating NGC 6729 is a T Tauri star – a type of young star whose brightness fluctuates over time.  The fan-shaped nebula opens-up between the variable stars R Corona Australis (R CrA) and T CrA to the south-east (see skymap below ref. Robert Mura).  R CrA is a pre-main-sequence star within the Corona Australis molecular complex, which is one of the closest star-forming regions to the Milky Way galaxy.  Intriguingly, this wonderful, hazy looking nebula exhibits both variable brightness and morphology over time.

IMAGING DETAILS
Object	NGC 6729 Corona Australis Molecular Cloud
Constellation	Corona Australis
Distance	Approximately 420 light-years
Size	2.50 x 2.0 arc minutes (actual 0.30 light years)
Apparent Magnitude	+9.5
Scope	Planewave CDK20
Mount	Planewave L500
Focuser	Optec Gemini
Camera	QHY600PH-M
Filters	Chroma LRGB + Ha 3nm
Processing	Deep Sky Stacker & PixInsight v1.9-3
Image Location & Orientation	Centre: RA 19:01:42.392      DEC -36:59:48.53                         Up = North
Exposures	L x 77, R x 50, G x 50, B x 50 @ 5mins Total Integration Time: 19hr
Location & Darkness	Obstech El Sauce Observatory, Chile
Date	July 2024