Cave Nebula - Sh2-155 (Jonathan Piques)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cepheus (Cep) · Contains: LBN 527 · LBN 529 · Sh2-155

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Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

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Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

This is a classic object I've been wanting to shoot for a while, but never really had the skies to do it justice in LRGB. In this case, it's really the first net new image I've produced out of the new setup down in Deep Sky West, and took a fair amount of sky time to do it: I ended up discarding at least as many subs as I kept due to a mysterious gremlin that's been impacting my guiding down there intermittently. Fortunately, the staff has been extremely helpful in assisting me to try and diagnose and try different solves. I've got it a little tamed, but there's still a ways to go. Despite all that, I eventually gathered sufficient data, and I'm actually pleased with the result, and I'm rarely if ever truly happy with my images. I still find myself amazed at how dark it is down there and the complete lack of any light pollution gradients: it makes processing images like this a pleasure.

On the topic of processing, this one was fairly straightforward LRGB, no unusual techniques used. I did what I could to bring out the blue in the nebula: it's definitely there, albeit faint, and adds a faint purple cast in places to the otherwise red Ha-dominated scene. I also used a light touch with DarkStructureEnhance to try and bring out the darker dust elements, which I think add visual interest. I think I'll gather some Ha data as the moon gets brighter, and perhaps feather that in to a subsequent revision to see if it adds more detail, or just makes everything redder. I don't usually do blended narrowband-broadband outside of galaxies, so that should be a fun processing challenge.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, and as always C&C is welcome.

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	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5047839
PixInsight job	1Q92GS1EFFB3Q9ARC89P4NX5J4GGT62S
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	22h56m23s.209
RA (top/left)	23h00m24s.192
RA (top/right)	22h53m10s.435
RA (bottom/right)	22h52m26s.642
RA (bottom/left)	22h59m30s.514

Dec (center)	+62°32′04″.54
Dec (top/left)	+62°48′06″.79
Dec (top/right)	+62°55′15″.55
Dec (bottom/right)	+62°15′35″.47
Dec (bottom/left)	+62°08′38″.63

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Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

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Image Index:

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Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

Cave Nebula - Sh2-155

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