You can now buy an aluminized metal print of this image through my online store at the website location below:

The Lion Nebula SH2-132 Aluminized Metal Print - Etsy

Noted Astrophotographer Sara Wager had this to say about the Lion Nebula…

”Sharpless 2-232 is a very faint emission type nebula on the Cepheus/Lacerta border. It lies at a degree southeast of Epsilon CEP, and has a size of about 40 arc minutes.It is estimated to be about 10,000 to 12,000 light years away… but this is no more than an estimite. It’s a well studied region as well, with lots going on.”

This selection is from the Sharpless catalog which offers listings of famous objects like the Orion Nebula as well as faint objects that were difficult objects for amateurs in the film era. With the advent of digital photography, these faint nebulae have become more accessible. I have found the catalog to be a promising resource for astrophotography target selection.More can be found on the web about Stewart Sharpless and his catalog at “The Best of Sharpless Catalog.”

According to that resource…

“Many famous objects are imaged by amateur astronomers who are unaware that they are part of the Sharpless (SH2) catalog.  The great Orion nebula, also known as Sh2-281, and the commonly imaged Flame nebula, known as SH2-277, are some of the December favorites.  Six months later in the month of June, SH2-25, which is also known as The Lagoon nebula and the North American Nebula listed in the catalog as SH2-117, are in the sky.  

Some of the objects that Sharpless includes are not HII nebulae at all; instead they are reflected star light off a galactic dust cloud above and below our own galaxy.  This is known as Integrated Flux Nebulae which Steve Mandel cataloged in his Unexplored Nebulae Project.  There are a few Sharpless catalog numbers that fall into this, the largest labeled Sh2-178 near the North Star Polaris.”

Frames were taken in September, 2017.

Astrodon True-Balance 3NM H-Alpha 12x1800” (6 hours) bin 2x2
Astrodon True-Balance 3NM Oxygen-Oiii 18x1800 (9 hours) bin 2x2
Astrodon True Balance 3NM Sulphur-SII 12x1800” (6 hours) bin 2x2
Astrodon True Balance 3NM Nitrogen-NII 12x1800 (6 hours) bin 2x2

Recieved Award as a Best Pick in Astrobin in 2017