Seagull Nebula

[petevasey]

Although there was a bright Moon in the sky on 21st January, the air was nevertheless very clear, so I decided to try for the 'Seagull' nebula, IC2177 in Canis Minor. This emission nebula is well suited for the use of narrowband filters, being particularly bright in Hydrogen-alpha, so worth a try. Also the large target needs a wide field, and the QSI 683 on my ST65 quad was just enough to cover the vast majority of the gas cloud. But it is very low in my sky, never rising above 24 degrees, so imaging is limited to an hour or so either side of the meridian. Unfortunately it clouded over before I was able to capture any more than 9 Ha images, and only one on 23rd January, so for now this is the monochrome result, and the moon is now too close and bright for further attempts over the next couple of weeks even with narrowband filters. But looking promising - plenty time this season to acquire more data if the weather plays even remotely fair!  I hope also to capture an  RGB image for star colours.  But that will have to wait for a moonless night.  10 x 10 minute Ha subs binned 2x2. QSI683 with SX AO unit on TSquad.

Cheers,

Peter

 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by petevasey

[Graham Darke]

Lovely that Peter.

[callisto]

Nice image Peter 👍

 

Mark