A deep view into the area around Sh2-140 in Cepheus

I had seen images showing faint gas and dust clouds surrounding Sh2-140 in the constellation Cepheus, and I wanted to make these visible using the RASA at f/2.2, focusing primarily on the RGB data. In the end, I accumulated nearly 25.5 hours of exposure time, with about 20.5 hours dedicated to RGB and 5 hours to H-alpha.

The processing was more challenging than expected because, despite the long exposure time, everything was still quite faint overall. I blended the H-alpha data very subtly to keep the RGB look. I was very pleased that the dust clouds became visible in the lower right of the image, as well as the two reflection nebulae VdB 153 (bottom center) and GN 22 12.3 (top center). Sh2-140 also stood out nicely with its shockwave, along with the gas cloud Sh2-145 (left).

 

Celestron RASA 8 f/2

Celestron Motorfocus

EQ6-R Pro

ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)

RGB: 1223 × 60″ (20h 23‘)

TS 2600 MP (Gain 100, Offset 200, -10°)

Baader H-Alpha Highspeed 3.5nm: 157 × 120″ (5h 14‘))

Total: 25h 37‘

Bortle 5 (19.50 SQM)

N.I.N.A., Guiding: ASI 120MM & PHD2

Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight

Date: Aug 26-29 & Sep 1, 2024

Location: Hannover, Germany (Bortle 5-6)

 

 

Done