Sharpless 171 is a sizable emission nebula located about 3,200 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus, all part of the larger star forming region of NGC 7822. Near the top right of the image is a cluster of newer stars named Berkeley 59. It's this cluster of "young" (read: a few million years old), bright stars that both ionizes and illuminates the nebula.
I shot this target years ago, and remember it as one of my favorites at the time because the signal was so strong. So I thought it would be fun to try again, this time with a longer focal length and better skies. I decided to go fairly deep on it not for any good reason, more because I couldn't think of any other narrowband targets I was particularly jazzed about shooting during this moon phase. I am glad I did, because I ended up with super clean data across Ha, Oiii, and even Sii, which made processing this one fun--no noise reduction needed at all, only light DBE. Rather than a traditional Hubble palette, I thought I would mix it up and try this cotton candy-colored mashup, inspired by
@Alan Pham's amazing rendition of this target from a couple of years ago. What was important to me was to make the pillars-of-creation-like tendrils in the center stand out from the Oiii background, and to emphasize the darker structures, which almost remind me of the Pacman nebula they're so complex.
Anyway! Critiques and commentary are always welcome.
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