kevan.noble
Sh2-292 The Seagull Nebula
Easily the largest Seagull ever seen, by light years ;-)
The Seagull Nebula (Sh2-296) lies just on the border between the constellations of Monoceros (The Unicorn) and Canis Major (The Great Dog) and is close to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. The nebula lies more than four hundred times further away than the famous star.
The complex of gas and dust that forms the head of the seagull glows brightly in the sky due to the strong ultraviolet radiation coming mostly from one brilliant young star HD 53367.
The radiation from the young stars causes the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow. Light from the hot blue-white stars is also scattered off the tiny dust particles in the nebula to create a contrasting blue haze in some parts of the picture.
Spanning about 100 light-years from one wingtip to the other, Sh2-296 displays glowing material and dark dust lanes weaving amid bright stars.
It is a beautiful example of an emission nebula, in this case an HII region, indicating active formation of new stars, which can be seen peppering this image.
The Seagull Nebula complex was observed for the first time by the German-British astronomer Sir William Herschel back in 1785.
SHO Taken between 22 and 27 February 2022 (65% - 13% Moon), RGB stars taken 7 March 2022 (22% Moon). Last chance to capture this target for me in my location for 2022, but also my first attempt. I could have squeezed in Thor’s Helmet if I had rotated the camera but I didn’t want to change the optics at this point. I could only manage 2.5 hours a night due to the target getting lower by this time of year, and crashing into a neighbours tree.
I spent far too many hours processing and reprocessing using new and different Pixinsight work flows to get the best from the data, and of course I would like to start over again, but time to let this big bird free until I capture it again next time around.
Sky Quality 19.67 Magnitude Class 5 Bortle.
Astromiks 50mm SHO 6nm Filters
Sii=26 x 300s + 19 x 180s
Ha=27 x 300s + 18 x 180s
Oiii=14 x 300s + 17 x 180s
RGB Stars 46 x 60s x 3
10 hours 10 minutes total
30 x Darks, Flats and Bias
ZWO ASI6200MM Pro
ZWO 7x2" EFW
ZWO EAF
Williams Optics GT81 IV
WO 6A III Field Flattener 0.8
HEQ5 Pro Rowan
ASIAIR Pro
Astro Pixel Processor
Pixinsight
Photoshop 2022
Sh2-292 The Seagull Nebula
Easily the largest Seagull ever seen, by light years ;-)
The Seagull Nebula (Sh2-296) lies just on the border between the constellations of Monoceros (The Unicorn) and Canis Major (The Great Dog) and is close to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. The nebula lies more than four hundred times further away than the famous star.
The complex of gas and dust that forms the head of the seagull glows brightly in the sky due to the strong ultraviolet radiation coming mostly from one brilliant young star HD 53367.
The radiation from the young stars causes the surrounding hydrogen gas to glow. Light from the hot blue-white stars is also scattered off the tiny dust particles in the nebula to create a contrasting blue haze in some parts of the picture.
Spanning about 100 light-years from one wingtip to the other, Sh2-296 displays glowing material and dark dust lanes weaving amid bright stars.
It is a beautiful example of an emission nebula, in this case an HII region, indicating active formation of new stars, which can be seen peppering this image.
The Seagull Nebula complex was observed for the first time by the German-British astronomer Sir William Herschel back in 1785.
SHO Taken between 22 and 27 February 2022 (65% - 13% Moon), RGB stars taken 7 March 2022 (22% Moon). Last chance to capture this target for me in my location for 2022, but also my first attempt. I could have squeezed in Thor’s Helmet if I had rotated the camera but I didn’t want to change the optics at this point. I could only manage 2.5 hours a night due to the target getting lower by this time of year, and crashing into a neighbours tree.
I spent far too many hours processing and reprocessing using new and different Pixinsight work flows to get the best from the data, and of course I would like to start over again, but time to let this big bird free until I capture it again next time around.
Sky Quality 19.67 Magnitude Class 5 Bortle.
Astromiks 50mm SHO 6nm Filters
Sii=26 x 300s + 19 x 180s
Ha=27 x 300s + 18 x 180s
Oiii=14 x 300s + 17 x 180s
RGB Stars 46 x 60s x 3
10 hours 10 minutes total
30 x Darks, Flats and Bias
ZWO ASI6200MM Pro
ZWO 7x2" EFW
ZWO EAF
Williams Optics GT81 IV
WO 6A III Field Flattener 0.8
HEQ5 Pro Rowan
ASIAIR Pro
Astro Pixel Processor
Pixinsight
Photoshop 2022