Starting back for the new season at the lower numbers... the first few will be very difficult as they are low.... DEC -34 on this one!

From GalaxyMap:

This mysterious nebula, catalogued as RCW 130 and Sh 2-10, lies in the direction of the Sco OB4 association. Two Wolf-Rayet stars, WR 86 and WR 88, are visible towards its edge.

There is little visible in IRAS or MSX infrared but there is significant radio emission in this direction.

Avedisova lists three ionising stars: the O8 III giant HD 155806, the O9 IV subgiant HD 155889 and the B1 V main sequence star HD 155754. Curiously, Sharpless mentions none of these as ionising stars, listing the O-star HD 156327 instead. SIMBAD says that this last star is in fact the Wolf-Rayet star WR 86.

The RCW catalog adds the not-very-helpful note that RCW 130 "Appears to be a more concentrated region of a large area of diffuse emission".

GENERAL NOTE ON SHARPLESS2 OBJECTS>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have been on a project for several years now to image all the Sharpless2 Objects that I can see from my location near San Francisco. I chose these because they are visible in light polluted areas. These objects generally represent left over Hydrogen along the edge of the Milky Way that has gotten molded into interesting shapes.

There are 313 Sh2 objects.

As of the date when this image was posted:

I had imaged 250 (80%).

There are 12 too diffuse/large to image with my set up (Sh2 111, 117, 122, 131, 132, 145, 178, 218, 221, 230, 268 and 310).

There are 6 that are never above 14 DEG elevation at my site and are too low for my 17 DEG min due South (Sh2 2-6 and 8).

This leaves me 46 potentially still do-able and most are in Expert Scheduler waiting for them to pass by.

The first one was taken on December 23, 2013.

Many were taken with my old Tak 180 ED, which had a wide field of view, but was replaced with my Stellarvue 130, which is more narrow field. I have also taken two very wide field HA images with my Nikon D800 and a 50mm lens.

This is my collection:

Sharpless2

Wide-Angle Hydrogen Alpha Nikon Image Sh2 79-171

Please note there is also a Sharpless2 Group with now more than 1500 examples.

Sharpless2 Group

Other useful links include:

Gary Imm's Collection

GalaxyMap's Collection

The Sharpless Catalog

The MDW H-alpha Sky Survey

Reiner Vogel's detailed observing catalog

Hope you enjoy these obscure but interesting objects...