20210824 - Sh2-129 The Flying Bat & Ou4 aka ‘The squid’ - 16 hours of fishing, and I think I caught myself a squid .. faint, but he’s there 🤩
What was the experience
While the RedCat was chasing around the space-zoo (lions, pelicans, teddy bears … 😂), I was out fishing for the first time with the TS94 and ASI2600MC. I spent 5 nights fishing, of which 1 had to throw back the first night into the sea, as I hadn’t properly aligned the frame in the same way 🙄 It was so off, it would’ve meant clipping the wings of the bat way too much
So, 4 nights it was, increasing the subs on the last night to 1200s (during the nearly full moon, not the best of timings), and still having only 0.30” 🤩 on the guiding with the CEM70.
The squid is so faint, I may have been a bit too forceful on the curves to bring him out into the open, nearly destroying my star field 🙄 There are still limits to my processing skills that could be improved upon, but hey … he’s there, my first catch, … faint, but visible … and I am happy 😍
The image could still do with more data, but I didn’t want to wait on this … more data next time 😉
What’s in the picture(s)
Sh2-129 (CEP) - Flying Bat Nebula & Ou4 aka ‘The squid’ -
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150911.htmlQuote: “Very faint but also very large on planet Earth's sky, a giant Squid Nebula cataloged as Ou4, and Sh2-129 also known as the Flying Bat Nebula, are both caught in this scene toward the royal constellation Cepheus.
Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager
Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's alluring
bipolar shape is distinguished by the telltale blue-green
emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms”
How it was done
Scope: TS-94EDPH APO (FL 414mm / 517mm with 0.8x corrector)
Mount: iOptron CEM70G
Camera: ASI2600MC Pro
Guiding: ZWO OAG, ZWO ASI290MM, ASIAIR Pro
Resolution: 1,87”/pixel, FoV 235’
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Moon: 97%(-), Bortle 5/6 SQM 19.60
Photons: Gain 100 -10c / 20210813-15-16 600s 61x / 20210824 1200s 17x
Darks 37x/4x
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
What have I learned from this
During the early processing, I noticed the OAG prism was clipping the sensor. Has been corrected, but the imprint of the early subs (Friday 13th 😱) is still visible in the lower-left/upper-right corner
It’s not necessarily the amount of data, but sometimes the length of the individual exposures that makes the difference. More 600s data improved the wings of the bat, but I really needed the 1200s for the squid, otherwise he was obscured too much in the mirky water
This is my first ‘real’ multi-night exposure, the experience already being used on the try-outs of M31 Andromeda
The image might be a bit over-processed, but my eye was on the squid … forgive me 🙏
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
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