Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  B369  ·  LBN 471  ·  LBN 473  ·  LDN 1150  ·  LDN 1154  ·  LDN 1156  ·  LDN 1161  ·  LDN 1163  ·  NGC 7226  ·  PK103+00.2  ·  RW Cep  ·  Sh2-132
Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux
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Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula

Revision title: Re-processed, with additional prey for the lion

Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux
Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula

Revision title: Re-processed, with additional prey for the lion

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

20210812 - (CEP) SH2-132 - The Lion Nebula (or Lion’s Head Nebula) - it still remains a zoo out there among the stars 🦁

What was the experience
Finally another Clear Sky. Planning the new targets depending on field of view of the TS94/414 and ASI183 combination, looking for a target that is at least 30%-40% of my FoV (which would give me around 3k pixel diameter). Lots of smaller ones that I’m putting on the backlog for the bigger scope. Finally decided on sh2-132, the Lion/Lion’s Head Nebula, less well known, but still a nice target.

What’s in the picture(s)
Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula  - https://futurism.com/apotd-sh2-132
Quote: “Meet SH2-132 (otherwise known as Sharpless 132)—a large emission nebula located between the border of the Cepheus and Lacerta constellations.
If you’ve never heard of it before, as most haven’t, don’t feel too bad. SH2-132 might be large, but it’s rather faint and obscure; It’s still somewhat easy to find. It lurks in close proximity to three distinct stars—Epsilon, Zeta Cephei and Delta—arranged in a triangle-formation. The nebula is about 1.0 degree from Epsilon, which forms a straight line with SH2-132 and Zeta.”

How it was done
Mount: SW EQ6-R Pro 
Guiding: ASIAIR Pro, ZWO30F4, ASI120MM
Scope: WO RedCat 51
Camera: ASI183MC Pro
Resolution: 1,98”/pixel, FoV 218’
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Moon: 7%(+), Bortle 5/6 SQM 19.60
Photons:  Gain 125, cooling -10, 300s, 52x ( o/w 15 rejected)
Darks 31x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
Astrobin:  

What have I learned from this
This time I tried not to rush the processing, checking every step in PixInsight, and being more ‘soft’ on the curves, etc … It seems this as been of benefit to the quality of the picture, and I have the impression that this time I didn’t completely destroy the image 🤨😉, I even didn’t have to do any cleanup in Photoshop afterwards. I take this as a new step on the processing learning curve, which also means I should perhaps re-process my previous pictures 😂.

Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭

IG https://www.instagram.com/astrowaut/

Comments

Revisions

  • Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux
    Original
  • Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux
    B
  • Final
    Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux
    C

B

Title: Re-processed, luring a Lion from out of the bushes, after 5 months

Description: 20220124a - Cloudy Nights = Education time 🤩 - Working through my ‘old’ data. Re-processing ‘old data’ in a new way, applying the skills learned in the past 5 months.
Similar to my other revisions: splitting the L-Extreme image in Ha and Oiii components, applying the fornaxx-formula, using Ha as Luminance. Applying ACDNR in a better way, which has made the image less noisy. Local Histogram, DarkStructure enhancements, etc ... softer on the curves transformation, very sensitive on the blackpoint as to not destroy the background.
The lion is partly out of the bushes, but still not roaming free. It’s an improvement, but the ‘body’ seems to have a purple hue, maybe still some reprocessing to do

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: Re-processed, with additional prey for the lion

Description: 20220124b - Cloudy Nights = Education time 🤩 - Working through my ‘old’ data. Re-processing ‘old data’ in a new way, applying the skills learned in the past 5 months.
I noticed that I still had some extra data that from a couple of days later, that ì hadn’t thrown in the mix yet.
Similar to my other revisions: splitting the L-Extreme image in Ha and Oiii components, applying the fornaxx-formula, using Ha as Luminance, etc ... softer on the curves transformation. So minute differences in the colouring of the body, but nothing major.
In spit of the additional game for the lion, he is still a bit ‘pale’. This is probably as far as this data goes. Next lion will be new capture … when I go back on safari, some day

SH2-132 Lion Nebula
RC51 ASI183MC
20210812 300s 41x L-Extreme
20210816 300s 13x L-Pro
20210816 300s 36x L-Extreme

Uploaded: ...

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Sh2-132 - The Lion / Lion’s Head Nebula, Wouter Cazaux