The Cosmic Squid

Discovered in 2011 by French astrophotographer Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula (Ou4) is distinguished by its elegant bipolar shape and the vivid blue glow of doubly ionized oxygen (Oiii). It is nestled entirely within the reddish hydrogen-rich emission nebula Sh2-129, also known as the Flying Bat Nebula.

 

Recent research indicates that Ou4 lies roughly 2,300 light-years from Earth and resides within Sh2-129. This makes Ou4 a dramatic outflow, originating from HR 8119, a triple system of hot, massive stars at the nebula’s core. With an enormous physical size of nearly 50 light-years, the Squid Nebula stands as one of the largest and most intriguing emission structures in the night sky.

 

Capturing the Squid Nebula is a real challenge and requires very long integration times over several nights... The perfect challenge to test my new deep space imaging rig.

 

Equipment:

Telescope: Sharpstar SQA106

Mount: Sky-Watcher Wave 150i

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

Filter: Baader RGB, 3nm Ha & 4.5nm Oiii with a ZWO EFW

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Autoguider: ZWO ASI 385MC with Artesky UltraGuide 32mm

Rig control: ZWO Astrophotography ASIAir Plus

 

EXIF

130x 30s with RGB

50x 300s Ha

150x 300s Oiii

 

Total exposure time: 20h

Done