Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  HD199306  ·  HD200205  ·  HD201063  ·  HD201344  ·  HD201429  ·  HD202214  ·  HD202380  ·  HD203534  ·  HD203550  ·  HD203551  ·  HD203574  ·  HD239582  ·  HD239618  ·  HD239626  ·  LBN 441  ·  LBN 445  ·  LBN 449  ·  LBN 453  ·  Sh2-129
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Squid Nebula, Darius Kopriva
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Squid Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Squid Nebula, Darius Kopriva
Powered byPixInsight

Squid Nebula

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Description

SH2-129 is a relatively faint emission nebula in Cepheus, a neighbor of the larger and more often imaged IC 1396.  Sometimes referred to as the "Flying Bat" nebula, this region is characterized by Ha emission as well as a small, mixed emission and reflection nebula (vdB 140), seen in the lower portion of the field, just to the left of center.  What is most remarkable about this region is a recent discovery made in 2011 by Nicolas Outters, called the "Squid Nebula" due to its shape, but more officially called Ou4.  This region is characterized by a very faint OIII emission that has a bipolar shape reminscent of a planetary nebula, seen as the teal-colored region just to the left of center and requiring 10 hours of imaging through an OIII filter to capture (and could have used even more!).  Although it was originally thought to perhaps represent a planetary nebula derived from an unknown, dying star, more recent evidence suggests that Ou4 is located within SH2-129 itself and is a bipolar outflow emitting in the OIII spectrum, moving at the same rate as SH2-129, and possibly emanating from a triple star system located in the center of Ou4 (HR8119, visible above as the bright star in the center of the Squid).

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Squid Nebula, Darius Kopriva

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Southern Hemisphere Astro