Lion's Mane in Cepheus

Work-in-progress for Sh 2-132 "Lion's Mane" emission nebula on the border between Cepheus and Lacerta, about 10,000 lightyears away, and over 300 lightyears in diameter. This is why Cepheus is such a wonderful constellation. The Lion's Mane is another giant HII region with ionization partially provided by two Wolf-Rayet stars, WR 152 and WR 153, which have blown out the rings you see in the image. I'm in the middle of capturing data for this. This is a fairly dim object--I only have about half the frames I want for Ha and OIII, and I haven't even started SII capture yet. Here's a bi-color Ha+OIII for the subs I've captured so far. William Optics GT81 APO refractor, ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro mono camera, Astronomik filters, iOptron CEM25P mount. 

 

Posted July 5, 2019