Vera C. Rubin Observatory releases Seagull Nebula image from ComCam

To mark the two-year anniversary of engineering testing, the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has released a new image of the Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) captured by its Commissioning Camera, known as ComCam.

ComCam is an engineering test camera used to validate the observatory’s hardware, software, and image processing pipelines in preparation for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). During a seven-week testing period in late 2024, the camera acquired approximately 16,000 exposures. Although smaller than the primary LSST camera, ComCam utilizes a mosaic of nine CCD sensors to produce 144-megapixel images, each covering an area of the sky roughly twice the size of a full Moon.

The released image highlights Sharpless 2-292, which forms the head of the Seagull Nebula. Located approximately 3,700 light-years from Earth between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major, the nebula is composed of three expansive gas clouds: Sharpless 2-292, Sharpless 2-296, and Sharpless 2-297.