I read a delightful description of this nebula courtesy of Bob Franke in Astronomy, 6 May 2015: "Sh 2-73 is located in the constellation Hercules and was mistakenly included in the Sharpless catalog as an emission nebula. We now know that the nebula is simply a molecular cloud. With its relatively high galactic latitude, about 45°, the integrated light of the galaxy illuminates the nebula. Therefore, we can refer to Sh 2-73 as an integrated flux nebula, as defined by Steve Mandel."

Notwithstanding the nebula being "mistaken" Steve and I were pleased to finally complete the data acquisition despite cloudy spring and early summer weather conditions on Spain. Thank goodness we didn't need to gather any Ha data ;-) The image was difficult to process, unsurprising perhaps to those who love dusty images, as judgement has to be exercised between representing the relative brightness of these faint molecular clouds with the background sky and star fields. Fortunatley there is sufficient brightness in this target that you don't have to push too hard to reveal the delicate structures within the nebula, so not great risk to the star profiles or background smoothness.

Within the data I found a faint reddish background gradient across the frame that I have dampened but retained thinking it may be 'real' rather than an acquisition artefact. Finally, the beautiful pairing/asterism of the bright stars at the lower edge of the frame add a focus for the eye helping you to view the details across the nebula.

(A note of apology to my very tardy and delayed replies to kind comments on my last two posted images - I have been absorbed by work matters these last few weeks in these very trying times in which we all find ourselves).

Data acquisition: Barry Wilson & Steve Milne, from a privately owned and self-operated remote rig in Spain.

Processing: Barry Wilson

Thanks for looking.