Sh2-73 - A Dusty Molecular Cloud

Sh2-73 was originally classified as an emission nebula hence added to the Sharpless Catalog of emission Nebula, however, it is actually a molecular cloud illuminated by the integrated light from the galaxy. It is located approximately 392 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Hercules. Although it was misclassified as an emission nebula, it has some colorful stars associated with it and is still very pleasing to image (in fact I think I like imaging dark reflection nebulae more than emission nebulae).

Capturing and processing was straightforward although I did lose a bit of some RGB data as I forgot to set the temperature to zero degrees - trying to do too many things at once. It is very dark and nothing was visible on the individual subframes which always concerns me when imaging. This may be the last image from this scope for a little while as I finally received the EdgeHD8 and will be busy activating that setup as well as the 200mm Canon Lens setup. This AT115 setup has been great and also very stable so I am keeping it untouched which is why I have been building a new imaging setup.

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1

Sh2-73
Dates: 6-5, 6-6, 6-9, 6-10, 6-16, 6-17
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 259 x 90, R 58 x 60, G 53 x 60, B 56 x 60
Gain: 139
Offset 21
Temp: 15 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

https://www.instagram.com/astroquest1/
http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/c/AstroQuest1