OU-4 The Squid Nebula (Pavle Culum)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cepheus (Cep) · Contains: HD201344 · HD201429 · HD202214 · HD202380 · HD239618 · LBN 449 · LBN 453 · Sh2-129

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OU-4 The Squid Nebula

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OU-4 The Squid Nebula

This summer i wanted to really challenge myself and push my own skillset and the gear to its limits. It also helps that most of the targets i was interested in haven't cleared my treeline yet, so i had a few weeks to dedicate to this project.

Initially i set my goal to 20 hrs. By far the most i've ever dedicated to a single target. Once stacked, i realized it wasn't even nearly enough; the very first version of the image that came out was an overly stretched blotchy mess that rivaled my 7 year old's fridge artwork. I decided to double it. So, for the last 3 weeks, every clear night i had i dedicated to the Squid. In the end i managed to have 40 usable hrs of data.

This comes to no surprise to those who have attempted this target: processing this was an absolute exercise in trial and error. I would spend hours one day processing, save it, look at it the next day and think to myself "oh my god i was actually happy with this?", and then i'd do it again. Day after day. I had to learn new techniques, combine processing software, come up with random ways to mask things i wanted to boost. It just felt like i was artificially creating what i wanted to see instead of pulling it out of the image.

Conclusion after all the efforts: my processing skills are no match for it; my rig is no match for it; my Bortle 8 skies are no match for it. The Squid will be my Moby Dick - years from now i will be older and hopefully wiser, and will attempt to slay the mythical ocean beast.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6142429
PixInsight job	V813NTTTUKZ4R9CRPRJLRK3AQTAAWEPI
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h11m52s.61
RA (top/left)	21h16m17s.46
RA (top/right)	21h17m39s.78
RA (bottom/right)	21h07m16s.80
RA (bottom/left)	21h06m16s.63

Dec (center)	+59°56′32″.9
Dec (top/left)	+59°13′34″.6
Dec (top/right)	+60°29′49″.5
Dec (bottom/right)	+60°38′52″.9
Dec (bottom/left)	+59°22′17″.7

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OU-4 The Squid Nebula

OU-4 The Squid Nebula

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Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

OU-4 The Squid Nebula

OU-4 The Squid Nebula

Equipment

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