SHARPLESS CATALOG OBJECT: EMISSION NEBULA SH2-302 (IMAGE ALSO INCLUDES REFLECTION NEBULA vdB97)
This object has an uncanny resemblance to a Snowman, complete with scarf and carrot nose; so I call it The Snowman Nebula.
Cropped and rotated to better show Snowman, scroll down for larger field (click on image for larger size):
Full Field, approximately 87' x 59' (click on image for larger size):
Image acquisition and processing details:
| Telescope: | William Optics Zenithstar 105mm APO refractor, f/5.6 with 0.8 FR/FF. |
| Mount: | Celestron CGE, remotely controlled with NexRemote. |
| Camera: | SBIG ST-10XME cooled to -30C, internal guiding. |
| Filters, Exposure Times: | AstroDon Ha 19x20min, Red 10x5min, Green 6x5min, Blue 8x5min. Additional data was obtained but discarded. |
| Dates: | 12/12/06 to 12/15/06 (4 nights, about 2-3 hours each night). |
| Location: | Xanadu Observatory, Backyard in Tucson, AZ |
| Software: | MaximDL, TheSky, CCDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop |
| Notes: | Ha used for Luminance; R-channel used combined Ha & R data. Processed using technique described by Adam Block in his "Making Every Pixel Count" video, except I did not have any L data. |