Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae (Dale A Chamberlain)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cepheus (Cep) · Contains: HD200205 · HD201063 · HD201344 · HD201429 · HD202214 · HD202380 · HD203534 · HD203550 · HD203551 · HD203574 · HD203627 · HD203695 · HD239582 · HD239618 · HD239626 · LBN 441 · LBN 445 · LBN 449 · LBN 453 · LP Cep · PGC 165873 · PGC 167723 · PGC 167727 · PGC 167781 · PGC 167787 · PGC 167789 · PGC 167790 · PGC 167791 · PGC 167792 · PGC 3096611 · And 10 more.

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Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

Link: https://chamberlainobservatory.com/welcome-to-the-chamberlain-observatory-website/photo-gallery/sh2-129-the-bat-and-the-squid-nebulae/

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Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

Link: https://chamberlainobservatory.com/welcome-to-the-chamberlain-observatory-website/photo-gallery/sh2-129-the-bat-and-the-squid-nebulae/

Sh2-129 or Sharpless 129 is a large emission nebula in the constellation of Cepheus and is estimated to be 1300 light-years from Earth. It is referred to as "The Flying Bat" nebula.

The large blue/green nebula inside it, which is over a degree long, is formally known as Ou4 but is colloquially called the "Squid" (or "Giant Squid") Nebula. Ou4 is remarkable for having been discovered very recently, in 2011, by amateur astronomer Nicolas Outters (hence the "Ou" in "Ou4"). It was originally called a planetary nebula but is now thought to be some kind of bipolar outflow from the bright blue star at its center (HR 8119).

This nebula is very faint, and it takes long exposure times to capture it. In this image, Ou4 took 9 hours of exposure time. The complete image took 12.2 hours of exposure time, the longest duration I have done to date.

It is located on the southern edge of the constellation, northwest of the great nebulous complex of IC 1396 (which contains the Elephant Trunk nebula), although physically, it is at a great distance from it; the most suitable period for its observation in the evening sky falls between the months of July and December and is considerably facilitated for observers located in the regions of the terrestrial northern hemisphere.

Narrowband imaging
CMOS Imagers
Central USA
ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Cloudy Nights
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6209311
PixInsight job	KISJTJ2T7DC6QJTXQ66JU0NVDYU4Q8P6
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h09m14s.87
RA (top/left)	20h56m33s.53
RA (top/right)	21h21m41s.99
RA (bottom/right)	21h22m45s.84
RA (bottom/left)	20h55m56s.10

Dec (center)	+60°07′20″.1
Dec (top/left)	+59°01′30″.2
Dec (top/right)	+58°59′16″.1
Dec (bottom/right)	+61°08′21″.6
Dec (bottom/left)	+61°10′51″.7

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Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

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Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

Sharpless 129 and Ou4 "Flying Bat" and "Squid" nebulae

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