Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)
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The Bat and the Squid, urban.astronomer
The Bat and the Squid
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The Bat and the Squid

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Bat and the Squid, urban.astronomer
The Bat and the Squid
Powered byPixInsight

The Bat and the Squid

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

For astrophotographers looking for extreme challenges, I can recommend the Squid Nebula (Ou4). Discovered as late as 2011, it is indeed super dim. One hour of exposure using a decent O3 filter does not even provide a hint of the structure.

To catch the squid, I have combined data from two telescopes: Firstly 16 hours of exposure using a colour camera on a wide and fast telescope using Hyperstar. Secondly, a smaller piggy-back telescope using an O3 filter focusing only on the squid itself, collecting 12 hours of data with a mono camera. Thanks to the fast f/1.9 light collection and the extra O3 to enhance the squid, it was possible to create a decent image also from a Bortle 8-9 zone.

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