The Wizard Nebula In Cepheus

The Wizard Nebula is a strong emission nebula of dust and gas surrounding the open star cluster NGC 7380. The nebula is found in the constellation of Cepheus.

 

The Wizard Nebula itself has the designation Sh2-142 in the Sharpless Catalog of HII rich regions.

 

Believed to lie at a distance of around 7,000 light years from earth it is known to be a region of active star formation.

 

The nebula gets its name from the dark dust areas resembling a medieval sorcerer or wizard (complete with pointy hat!) his hands stretched out. Can you see him?

 

This HOO image was captured over 2 evenings. The second evening being severely curtailed due to clouds! I didn't get as much OIII as I would have liked but it is what it is!

 

I had hoped to acquire some SII data but the weather had other ideas! One to go back to!

 

Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED and a ZWO 1600MM Cooled camera cooled to -20.

 

Baader Ha & OIII Narrowband Filters

 

23x300s Ha Mapped to Red

 

20x 300s OIII Mapped to Blue

 

All at gain 200.

 

A synthetic green channel was created using a composite of Ha and OIII data and Noel Carboni's Astro Tools.

 

 

Done