Cave Nebula SH2-155

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2600x1950)

Scope: FSQ-106N at f/5, Location: Tierra Del Sol - SDAA Club site, CA   26 August 2017  Camera: Atik 383L (Astronomik Gen 2 Ha LRGB Filters)

Exposure: Exposure: 14 x 8 min  (1x1 bin) exposure with UV/IR block, 12 x 8 minutes (2x2 bin)  exposure with Hydrogen Alpha filter, 8 x 4 min (2x2 bin) RGB exposures.

Processing: Data Collection -  Sequence Generator Pro (as FITs).  Calibrated, stacked (Kappa Sigma Combine) - Deep Sky Stacker. LRGB channel registration, equalization - Astroart.  Curves, Levels, RGB combine - ImagesPlus. Luminance Layering, final stretch, and finishing  - Photoshop.  RGB calibration - eXcalibrator. This image is a  RGB combine with Luminance layering.  Color saturation in LAB color.  The H-Alpha filter exposure was screen blended into the IR/UV Blocking filter exposure stack and used for the luminance layer. Ha was screen blended into the Red channel -  emission balance of RGB done with Channel Mixer in Photoshop. Images processed at 3352 x 2532 resolution. Final Image size is approximately  2600 x 1950.

North is up in this image.  This object is referenced in three catalogues Caldwell 9, Lynds Bright LBN 529 and Sharpless SH2-155. It is also popularly known as the Cave Nebula. This object is located in the constellation of Cepheus. One distinctive feature is the dark area left of the bright nebula with few stars. This is a region of dust obscuring the star field behind it.  This region is  heavily cataloged in the Dark nebula catalog. I have annotated the more significant ones from Lynds Dark and Dobashi catalogs. The Dobashi catalog had 26 entries for this field; I only annotated seven of them. The small blue reflection nebula in the lower right is one of the van den Bergh objects - vdB-155. The Cave Nebula is about 2,400 light years distant from Earth.   These objects  and some of the brighter stars are identified in the annotated image.  This image replaces and earlier image that can be seen in the Archives here.  Horizontal FOV is approximately 120 arc minutes.

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 22h 58m 01s Dec: +62°26'09" 

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2017

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