SH2-155 - The Cave Nebula

Located in the constellation Cepheus is a giant cave! The Cave Nebula or SH2-155 also goes by Caldwell 9 and LBN 529 is a star-forming ionized Ha region located approximately 2,400 light-years away. It sits within a larger region of gas and dust containing emission, reflection and dark nebula which is visible on the image. The “Cave” coined by Patrick Moore is the large cavity surrounded by the intense red-orange emission nebula in the center of the image. Another noteworthy part is the blue reflection nebula vdB 155 located just north and east of the Cave Nebula. Many other dark nebulae are scattered throughout this region, some of which are visible on the image.

So this is first light with the Hyperstar and I am really loving the f/1.9 system. I am amazed at how much nebulosity was visible in each 3 minute subframe. This represents 4.65 hrs of total exposure with the EdgeHD8-Hyperstar using the IDAS NBZ filter. About half of the data was collected when the moon was out but it was not in the direction of the nebula. I did a comparison stack without the moon data added to see which was better and using all of the data produced a better starting image.  I was also a bit worried about using the ZWO ASI294 as the scale indicates (2.4") it is on the border of under- sampling but I am happy with the results - many other people have been successfully using this setup.

I am also really liking the Asiair Pro for capturing and there were no issues encountered by switching to the hyperstar. It focused, guided, and plate-solved perfectly. I probably did not even need to guide with the hyperstar (certainly overkill with the ST80) but did it anyway. I also made a new set of flats and dark flats and did encounter an issue. It seems the red LED light on the camera is picked up when making the dark flats so I covered it with tape. This is only an issue with RASA/Hyperstar systems since the camera is located in the front.

Using The ASIAIR Pro For Making Flats & Dark Flats
https://youtu.be/4GAGcnb-m3c 

SH2-155 - Cave Nebula
Dates: 8-27, 8-30, 9-1
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC-Pro
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 800
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 2032mm (native)
F/10 (native) F/1.9 (Hyperstar)
Focal Reducer: Starizona Hyperstar 
Mount: Orion Atlas Pro
Filter Adaptor: Starizona Filter Drawer
Filter: Baader IDAS NBZ (2-inch)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Orion ST80
Exposure: NBZ 93 x 180
Gain: 120
Offset 0
Temp: 0 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, Gradient Exterminator, Topaz DeNoiseAI.

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