IC443 - Jellyfish Nebula (2025)

This is my latest image of IC 443, a.k.a. SH2-248, commonly called the Jellyfish nebula for its similar appearance to the marine sea creature. It is a giant supernova remnant (SNR) located approximately 5000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. The exact age is uncertain, however, it is believed that the supernova event that produced what we see now occurred some 3,000 to 30,000 years ago. Recent research from the Chandra X-ray observatory indicates that the explosion that formed the nebula also created a neutron star or pulsar and further suggest the age is likely tens of thousands of years old making the 30,000 year old age more likely.

I really wanted to show the explosion of nebulosity emanating from the left side of the IC443. That portion has a lot of depth especially on the lower left area where there are also some dark nebulae such as LDN 1568. The upper middle area contains a blue oxygen rich region surrounding the star 12 Gemini with a reflection nebula, IC 444, just above that. The small pink gaseous object is on the left edge of the nebula is a small Planetary Nebula, HoCr 1.

I spent a lot of time doing star reduction as it sits in a heavy starfield, but I have a hard time with this because I love stars and typically do not do much reduction. I am still not sure and think I may have over done it but I know others might say I did not go far enough.


High Resolution:
https://www.astrobin.com/9mv1ej/?nc=collection&nce=712

Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4

IC443 - Jellyfish Nebula (2025)
Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Telescope: Askar FRA300 Pro
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 300mm
F/5
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: ZWO Filter Drawer
Filter: IDAS NBZ, Camera UV-IR
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope
Exposure: UV-IR 58 x 90 (1h 27'), NBZ 366 x 300 (30h 30'), Total (31h 57')
Gain: 100
Offset 0
Temp: -20 C
Processing: Asiair app, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXT, NoiseXT, StarX, Bill's Color Masks, Bill's Star Reduction, Bill's Stretching, GraXpert, Topaz Denoise

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Sh2-261 Lower's Nebula (2025)

This is my latest version of a colorful object known as Lower's Nebula or SH2-261. The nebula is a hydrogen alpha (Ha) region about 3,200 light-years away in Orion, specifically where the hand meets the club. It also contains a fair amount of sulfur (SII) and a lesser amount of oxygen (OIII). The Orion constellation has so many neat deep sky objects in addition to the most commonly imaged objects. There is only one page of images of beautiful nebulae currently on Astrobin, however, images are increasing quickly as more people discover it. It is named after amateur astronomer Harold Lower and his son Charles who discovered this nebula in 1939 in their home of San Diego.

I first did an HaRGB version in 2020 (7 hr 24 min) with this telescope and camera and then again in 2023 with the Celestron Edge800. This new version is far superior than either of my previous attempts in terms of fine detail although the 2020 version does show a lot of nebulosity. This sits in a pleasant colorful starfield which I wanted to preserve. As such, the only star reduction I did was the standard Star Xterminator default.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/g7puxm/?nc=collection&nce=712

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http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

Sh2-261 Lower's Nebula (2025)
Dates: 1-27-25, 1-29, 2-1, 2-4, 2-17, 2-18, 2-21, 2-25, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO R, G, B, UV
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 93 x 300, OIII 99 x 300, SII 95 x 300, R 40 x 90, G 30 x 90, B 37 x 90 (26h 35')

Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -20 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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