SH2-171, NGC 7762, King 11 (Hydrogen Alpha)

Found a rather offbeat target that was fun to capture. Sharpless 171 is of course a nebula, and a rather large one. NGC 7762 is an open cluster near the bottom center, while King 11 is above it and to the right. The photos below represent about 1/6 of the total size of SH2-171!

The nebula is also known as the cosmic question mark.

The first phase was capturing Ha.

Scope	Explore Scientific FCD100 ED127 Triplet Refractor
Mount	Losmandy G811G
Reducer	Apex .65 Starizona
Flattener	-
Camera	ZWO ASI 294MM
Filters	Antlia Ha 3.5nm	Antlia 3.5nm SII	Antlia 3.5nm OIII
Software	NINA 2.0	PHD2	PixInsight
Bortle	~7.5
Capture Eq.	Beelink SEi8 Mini PC	Pegasus Pocket PB
Guide Scope	Agena 60mm
Guide Camera	Zwo ASI120MM-S

Date(s)

Bin

Gain

Cam Temp

Filter

# Exps

Length

Hrs

Throw Away

Moon Phase

Seeing

Transp

8/9/2022

2x2

120

-10

Ha

40

180

2.0

0

>95%

4

5

Stars Removed

PixInsight Processing

Linear Processing

------

Dyanmic Crop to remove bad edges

Automatic Background Extraction

NoiseExterminator AI to remove noise

EZSoftStretch script to bring to Non-Linear state (Target Median = .25)

Non Linear Processing 

---------------------------

StartXterminator to remove stars

HDRMultiscaleTransform to bring out contrast (7 layers)

Curves - a couple of slight S-curve to slightly darken background and lighten nebula

LocalHistogramEqualization - Kernel Radius = 25 to bring out some contrast

LocalHistogramEqualization - Kernel Radius = 75 to bring out more contrast

LocalHistogramEqualization - Kernel Radius = 125 to bring out more contrast

MultiscaleLinearTransform to sharpen

Added stars back in with PixelMath

NoiseExterminator AI to remove noise

Elephant Trunk Nebula (Sh2-131)

Sh2-131

This was night 5 of a run of clear nights. VERY unusual in Illinois to say the least. Very happy that I can automate the capturing. SO, here is the Elephant Trunk Nebula or Sh2-131 from the Sharpless Catalog of Emission Nebula.

The Elephant Trunk Nebula winds through the emission nebula IC 1396, in the constellation of Cepheus. IC 1396 is a young star cluster.

The 'cosmic' elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long!

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL
Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Filter: 2" Optolong L-Enhance
Mount: Losmandy GM8
Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Exposure: Light (Gain 300) - 28 exposures @ 240 Seconds (112 Minutes)
Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 0 Flats
​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

#SH2131 #elephantstrunk #ic1396
#astrophotography #astrobackyard #losmandy #losmandygm8 #zwo #asi533mcpro #optolong #lenhance

The Lion Nebula, (Sh2-132)

The Lion Nebula

The Lion Nebula, or Sh2-132 has an extended emission nebula visible in the constellation of Cepheus. My picture captures the mane and body but not the tail. That will be another day. It is located on the southern edge of Cepheus, at a distance of almost 10,400 light years.

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL
Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Filter: 2" Optolong L-Enhance
Mount: Losmandy GM8
Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Exposure: Light (Gain 300) - 55 exposures @ 240 Seconds (220 Minutes)
Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 50 Flats
​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

Supernova Remnant Abell 85

Supernova Remnant Abell 85

This target is probably beyond the capabilities of a One Shot Color camera. This represents just under 5 hours of data. I'm glad I tried as it tells me my limitations.

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL
Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Filter: 2" Optolong L-Enhance
Mount: Losmandy GM8
Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Exposure: Light (Gain 300) - 240 subs @ 180 Seconds (4 hours, 45 minutes)
Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 50 Flats
​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

A Quick Take on the Crescent Nebula

So while waiting for the Eastern Veil to rise last night above my roof line, I took this easy pickings object... The Crescent Nebula.

It formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (Bright star in the middle) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant.

18 minutes of 6 stacked, 3 minute exposures.

Sharpless 2-121

Sharpless Catalog 2-171

Sharpless Catalog 2-171, is a star forming nebula located in the constellation Cepheus, ~3,000 light years from the Earth.  A very young cluster of stars known as Berkeley 59, is located in the lower center right of the image.  

#sh2171 #ngc7822

#astrophotography #astrobackyard #losmandy #losmandygm8 #zwo #asi533mcpro #optolong #l-enhance

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL
Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Filter: 2" Optolong L-Enhance
Mount: Losmandy GM8
Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software
Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Exposure: Light (Gain 200) - 23 subs @ 240 Seconds (92 Minutes)
Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 50 Flats
​Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI, Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS, Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

M52 and the Bubble Nebula

Open Cluster M52 and the Bubble Nebula.

"To the eye, this cosmic composition nicely balances the Bubble Nebula at the upper right with open star cluster M52. The pair would be lopsided on other scales, though. Embedded in a complex of interstellar dust and gas and blown by the winds from a single, massive O-type star, the Bubble Nebula (aka NGC 7635) is a mere 10 light-years wide. On the other hand, M52 is a rich open cluster of around a thousand stars. The cluster is about 25 light-years across. Seen toward the northern boundary of Cassiopeia, distance estimates for the Bubble Nebula and associated cloud complex are around 11,000 light-years, while star cluster M52 lies nearly 5,000 light-years away."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091030.html

------

Likely the best I can do with the L-Pro filter.

Technical Info:

Optics: SGO 6" f/4 Imaging Newtonian @ 610mm FL

Explore Scientific 2" HR Coma Corrector

Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Filter: 2" Optolong L-Pro

Mount: Losmandy GM8

Guiding: QHY Mini Guide Scope + PHD2 Software

Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro

Exposure: Light (Gain 200) - 130 subs @ 120 Seconds

Calibration: 50 Bias, 30 Darks, 50 Flats

Temperature: 17 C

Camera Temperature: -10 C

Bortle: 7/8

​Processing:

• Deep Sky Stacker
• Adobe Photoshop
• Topaz Denoise AI
• Astronomy Action Set plug in for PS
• Astro Flat Pro plug in for PS

New Direction in Imaging - Sharpless Catalog

If anyone were to look at astrophotography on Facebook, flickr, Instagram, etc, there is a glut of all the famous and simpler objects. Everyone including me has done M81/M82, M51, and the list goes on.

I guess I want to walk a different path. Not for the publicity but for the adventure of doing something a little different. So I've chosen to pursue the Sharpless catalog of emission nebula as the base for what I'll go after. Sky and Telescope magazine had a really good article by Ron Beecher on the "Treasures of the Sharpless Catalog." It allows me to do two things I've wanted to do for a while:

1. Be a bit different than the mainstream
2. Do Mosaics

I'll be needing to do quite a few mosaics to get some of the larger Ha regions of our galaxy like the North American/Pelican nebula. One of the first objects from this catalog I'll be going for will require a 4 panel mosiac as shown below.

So, like Bilbo Baggins, I'm going on an adventure!