The Head of the Orion Constellation: Sh2-264 Angelfish Nebula SHO Rokinon 135 mm (Brandon Tackett)

The Head of the Orion Constellation: Sh2-264 Angelfish Nebula SHO Rokinon 135 mm

Revision title: Fixed Internal S2 Reflection

Once Orion came back around this year, I was excited to see what SH2-264 capture would look like in SHO. When searching on Astrobin, only 180 or so images of this region popped up. Of those 180, only 60 were 10 degrees or less in angular size and only 1 SHO version in the search.

While only a one night capture, this project turned out exceptionally well. I used GraXpert for the 2nd time, which made a noticeable difference on O3 layer. I also used SCNR with additive mask instead of average neutral which provided a more mysterial appearance. I was shocked by all the detail and in the edge of the nebula as well as the channels that run through out.

Furthermore, from the very beginning I noticed a strong S2 signal on the top right of the image. This is not present in Ha or S2. I double check for a light leak and ran the image without calibration frames and with only darks. The formation was still there in the data. The signal measured 1,000 pixels from the corner and was more concerning for an internal reflection. No reflections are present in O3 or Ha. Image B shows a comparison of the upper right portion of the image with S2 on the left and Ha on the right.

2 Nights ago the clouds cleared and I shifted the image center for 2 hours of S2 data up and to the right of the image to see if the signal persisted. It did not!!!! I then recentered the object with Ha and S2. The reflection persisted again only in S2. My assumption is that Betelgeuse, out of frame on the bottom left caused an internal reflection that flipped to the right upper corner with only the S2 bandpass.

I utilized the shifted image S2 layer, stretched it, masked the original reflection band with the GAME script in the red channel, and feathered in the non reflection S2 data. I hope every enjoys difference on the final image.

SH2-164 often named the Angelfish Nebula is a large H2 region and ring ionized by Lamda Ori (Meissa). This star is located 1,100 light years from earth and is a large B-class star large spectral output in the UV spectrum and surface temp of 35,000 K. The ring is thought be from a SNR 2-6 millions years old from a possible binary companion of Meissa. (via Wikipedia)

On the lower right of the image, SH2-263 also is visible consisting of both emission and reflection nebulae

Original
B
C
Final
D

D

Title: Fixed Internal S2 Reflection

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	8877158
PixInsight job	7GJ5B2I5OVIQYBSIDHX4E4X1GEZXZ5F1
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h36m47s.78
RA (top/left)	05h52m23s.13
RA (top/right)	05h18m28s.92
RA (bottom/right)	05h21m31s.24
RA (bottom/left)	05h54m49s.55

Dec (center)	+10°27′56″.7
Dec (top/left)	+13°43′22″.3
Dec (top/right)	+12°42′39″.9
Dec (bottom/right)	+07°09′25″.4
Dec (bottom/left)	+08°09′18″.5

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