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Sunday, November 8, 2015

Sharpless 114, Sh2-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula



I have spent this Autumn season by shooting rarely imaged dimmer targets around Cygnus. So far I have stayed at Western parts of Cygnus nebula complex. This time I picked a target form the Eastern side, Sh2-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula. There are very few images out of this dim nebula.

This is a preliminary processing, I will shoot more exposures for this, whenever weather up here allows me to do so.

Sharpless-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula
Click for a large image

Image in mapped colors from the light emitted by ionized elements. 
Red=Sulfur, Green=Hydrogen and Blue=Oxygen.

A closeup
Click for a large image



An experimental starless version
Click for a large image

The actual nebula is easier to observe in this starless version. At center left, there is an odd looking corkscrew like  formation of glowing hydrogen and sulfur pointing upwards left. The pale bluish dot at top right is a bipolar planetary nebula Lan 384 or currently known as Kn 26.


Image in visual spectrum
Click for a large image

Natural color composition from the emission of ionized elements. 


INFO

Sh2-114 is a complex and unusual HII emission nebula. Its complex, wispy structure is likely the result of winds from hot, massive stars interacting with the magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. But very little is known about it. (Source, https://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1112.html)

There is a planetary nebula at the same field of view, Lan 384 (Kn 26)
Using existing digital sky surveys, Jacoby et al. (2010) presented Kn 26, a bipolar PN candidate known for a long time as the emission line source Lan 384. Here we present high spatial-resolution optical and near-IR narrow-band images of this nebula, high-dispersion long-slit echelle spectra, and low-resolution spectroscopy. The new data confirm the PN nature of Kn 26 and reveal features typical of bipolar PNe: butterfly morphology, H2 emission, and nitrogen enrichment. A detailed analysis of the morphology and kinematics, however, suggests the possible presence of two pairs of bipolar lobes that would make Kn 26 a new member of the class of quadrupolar PN.  (Source, http://www.iac.es/congreso/iaus283/pages/meeting/view-abstract.php?aid=138)


Lan 384 closeup

Info from Simbad database, http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Lan+384
Some latest info confirms this a s bipolar planetary nebulahttp://www.iac.es/congreso/iaus283/pages/meeting/view-abstract.php?aid=138


Technical details

Processing work flow

Image acquisition, MaxiDL v5.07.
Stacked and calibrated in CCDStack2.
Deconvolution with a CCDStack2 Positive Constraint, 21 iterations, added at 25% weight
Color combine in PS CS3
Levels and curves in PS CS3.

Imaging optics
Celestron Edge HD 1100 @ f7 with 0,7 focal reducer for Edge HD 1100 telescope

Mount
10-micron 1000

Cameras and filters
Imaging camera Apogee Alta U16 and Apogee seven slot filter wheel
Guider camera, Lodestar x2 and SXV-AOL



Astrodon filter, 5nm H-alpha
Astrodon filter, 3nm O-III
Astrodon filter, 3nm S-II

Exposure times
H-alpha, 9x 1200s = 3h
O-III, 3 x 1200s binned = 1h 
S-II,  3 x 1200s binned = 1h 
Total 5h




A single uncropped, calibrated and stretched 20 min. H-alpha frame as it comes from the camera







2 comments:

Sakib said...

Wow that looks great! The planetary nebula Kronberger 26 was discovered by the Deep Sky Hunters member Matthias Kronberger. Lan 384 refers to its central star.

Anonymous said...

A truly beautiful image! Thanks for posting.