SH2-129 is a relatively faint emission nebula in Cepheus, a neighbor of the larger and more often imaged IC 1396. Sometimes referred to as the „Flying Bat“ nebula, this region is characterized by Ha emission as well as a small, mixed emission and reflection nebula. What is most remarkable about this region is a recent discovery made in 2011 by Nicolas Outters, called the „Squid Nebula“ due to its shape, but more officially called Ou4. This region is characterized by a very faint O[III] emission that has a bipolar shape reminscent of a planetary nebula.
It took the whole summer to take the picture. One reason was my business, which not allows me to be at home all nights. Of course, during best nights I had to stay somehere else… The second reason was the exeptional good summer this year… Also an issue, the picture processing drove me also almost crazy. The third processing run is now the one shown here.
The picture was AdW 06/2018 at astronomie.de. Later this picture has been selected as „Astrofoto des Jahres 2018“ at astronomie.de: AdJ 2018.
| Picture Information |
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| Object | Sh2-129 region |
| Place | Borgfeld, Bremen, Germany, 17.07./14.08./21./22.08./15./18.10.2017 |
| Scope | Skywatcher Esprit 100 ED with small Riccardi reducer at f/4.1 |
| Camera | Atik 383L+, Baader Ha 7nm 12×30 min, Astrodon O[III] 3nm 27 x 30 min, Baader RGB each 5×10 min (poor seeing), Sum: 22h |
| Mount | Avalon Linear |
| Guiding | Lodestar 60/240 Finderscope, PHD-Guiding |
| Processing | PI, PS |