Sh2-114 - Flying Dragon Nebula

Bilbo Baggins said something like there hasn't been a dragon around here for over 1000 years, that's because they went looking for swans.  The Flying Dragon Nebula or Sh2-114 is located in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) at an unknown distance which is surprising to me.  It is a very faint nebula in an extremely rich star field which is probably why it is not imaged as much as other objects in the vicinity.  Similar regions typically are a result from a supernova, however, no remnants have been detected so the cause remains unclear.  

I first saw an image of this two years ago and loved the look but I wanted to wait until I had better equipment.  One of my favorite parts is the swirling filamentous clouds that make up the dragon.  The dragon sits in a surprisingly dense star field which is bittersweet as love stars, however, they make processing the nebula quite difficult.  I did a lot of star reduction in PI but did not use Starnet this time. The stars turned out nice and colorful after getting them to a manageable level. 

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Sh2-114 - Flying Dragon Nebula
Home Monroe, CT
Date: 7-31-20, 8-4-20, 8-5-20, 8-18-20, 8-19-20, 8-20-20
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805
f/7
Focal Reducer: AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO Ha, L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 158 x 240s, L 84 x 90s, R 43 x 90s, G 39 x 90s, B 42 x 90s 
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 22 C
Processing: APT, NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop.

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Milky Way Vacation Shots 2020

This image is looking south on the Twin Beach dock at Lake George in the foothills of Adirondack Park.  The skies are bortle 4 here as opposed to 5 in Monroe so a little better.  There were some low lying clouds but I was still able to get an image.  Jupiter and Saturn are in the center left with Jupiter being the brightest.  This was captured with the cheapo standard 18-55mm lens that comes with Canon and Nikon cameras.  I can't speak for Nikon but the Canon lens is not bad for astrophotography.  I have to thank Trevor Jones from AstroBackyard for bringing Topaz DeNoise AI to my attention - it works well!

Milky Way
Location: Lake George, NY
Date: 8-12-20
Camera: Canon T3i/600D modified
Lens: Canon 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 18mm
f/4.0
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro on a Manfrotto Tripod
Filter: none
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 15 x 30s (7.5min)
ISO: 1600
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise AI

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
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Addendum

This image from the same location as the previous image only two days later and with a different lens.  This time I used the the Opteka 6.5mm F3.5 Fisheye to capture the Milky Way.  This lens is a good price at just under $150 and other brands such as Samyang also sell a version of this for not much more money.  These lenses are well suited for astrophotography as well as other uses and are great additions especially if you are on a limited budget - compare this to normal wide angle lenses which cost $500 or more.  Although it is manual, focusing is easier because it has an infinity setting unlike automatic lenses which go beyond the infinity setting.  So what is the downfall of these lenses?  Because they give a distorted view around the edges, under close up view the stars show elongation and suffer more chromatic aberration.    

At first glance 6.5mm image may look like the image I took with the 18mm lens, however, it is a much larger FOV.  The bottom of 6.5mm image starts closer to the dock and passes Deneb (and the constellation of Cygnus) whereas the 18mm image starts farther from the dock and ends just after Altair.

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Milky Way
Location: Lake George, NY
Date: 8-14-20
Camera: Canon T3i/600D modified
Lens: Opteka 6.5mm F/3.5
Focal Length: 6.5mm
f/5.6
Mount: iOptron SkyGuider Pro on a Manfrotto Tripod
Filter: none
Autoguiding: none
Exposure: 4 x 60s (4min)
ISO: 1600
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise AI

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1  

Sh2-155 - Cave Nebula SHO (RGB Stars)

This is Sharpless 155 (Sh2-155) located 2400 light-years away in constellation Cepheus.  It is listed as an ionized region of Ha gas where star-formation occurs and is located on the edge of the Cepheus Molecular Cloud.  The nebula is being illuminated by the nearby hot stars with the largest component coming from the large bright blue star in the upper center.  The name Cave Nebula came from Patrick Moore who likened the nebula to an opening of a cave.  There is another object in Cepheus, a small reflection nebula named Ced 201, also known as the Cave Nebula.  My favorite part of this object is the bright gold rim of the cave and the orange knot (HH object) on the lower right.  

This object did not want me to image it for some reason.  You will see the last time I published a DSS was July 5th and I actually started on this the end of June.  This has to be the worst July I remember for lack of clear nights.  I tried to image every night that there was a 'thought' of clear weather - most ended with clouds.  Also, I have been using using N.I.N.A. for auto-focusing but it seemed to not work for a couple of nights so I had to do it the old-fashioned way - the reason it stopped working was I uploaded a new version and it rest the gain to zero.  Finally, I ended up with condensation on camera sensor or glass plate (ASI1600) probably caused my trying to image on tremendously humid nights.  Whatever the case I had to learn how to take my camera apart and rejuvenate the desiccant tablets - it is actually quite simple in case you ever have to do it.

Overall I am happy that I even captured something, I was getting concerned I would never finish this thing.  I used StarNet++ in PI and did most of the color adjustments in PS.  I am happy with the how colors turned out, however, I was hoping for more nebulosity and detail. This is a dim object though so if you image it, prepare to be on it for a little while, hopefully you will have an easier time than had. 

Date: 7-4-20, 7-5-20, 7-13-20, 7-14-20, 7-18-20, 7-19-20, 7-20-20, 7-20-20, 7-21-20, 7-25-20, 7-27-20, 7-28-20, 7-29-20

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Sh2 - Cave Nebula
Home Monroe, CT
Date: 7-4-20, 7-5-20, 7-13-20, 7-14-20, 7-18-20, 7-19-20, 7-20-20, 7-20-20, 7-21-20, 7-25-20, 7-27-20, 7-28-20, 7-29-20
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805
f/7
Focal Reducer: AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO Ha, OIII, SII, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 128 x 240s, OIII 148 x 240s, SII 130 x 240s, R 32 x 60s, G 29 x 60s, B 31 x 60s (28.6 hrs)

Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 22 C
Processing: APT, NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop.

https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1