20210813 - (CEP) NGC 7822 / Sh2-171 - The Teddy Bear Nebula

What was the experience
My main DSO for Friday 13th 😱. I was again looking for a target that is at least 30%-40% of my FoV (which would give me around 3k pixel diameter on the camera image), and I ended up with … a Teddy Bear 🧸😂
The interesting thing about this nebula, though, is that it is the smaller brother of the nearby IC 1396, the Elephant’s Trunk. This one contains a whole herd of (smaller) Elephant Trunks 🐘🐘🐘. It’s a star forming nebula full of baby stars, that get the right care from Teddy Bear to grow up 😂
Little over 3 hours of data, but the object could do with a bit more …. Next time 😉

What’s in the picture(s)
NGC 7822 / Sh2-171 - The Teddy Bear Nebula  - https://skyandtelescope.org/online-gallery/sh2-171-the-teddy-bear-nebula-in-cepheus/
Quote: “Sharpless2-171 is part of a bigger nebula, NGC 7822, in Cepheus. It is an emission nebula with elephant trunks, or pillars, carved by stellar winds of the hot bright stars within the nebula. However, to me, this nebula looks like a teddy bear staring straight at us from space. The two brightest stars are its eyes, it has large, round red ears, a brown nose, and an inverted V-shaped mouth line.” (Upside down)

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-Enhance
Moon: 28%(+), Bortle 5/6 SQM 19.60
Photons:  Gain 125, cooling -10, 300s, 44x (o/w 39 processed*)
Darks 31x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
(*) 39 Subs on Friday 13th … that’s 3x 13 … triple jeopardy 😱😱😱

What have I learned from this
I’m pushing the limits on what I can decently capture on a single (summer) night with the RedCat. Many DSO benefit from multiple days of exposures, however, I’m still going for diversity to broaden my skills 😎, and accepting the fact that the images are sometimes a bit too grainy/faint🙄 … for now 😉

Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭

IG https://www.instagram.com/astrowaut/
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/WCA65/