Sh2-204 (2026)

So this is my version of the emission nebula Sh2-204 located approximately 12,000 light-years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis. It is very large with sizes reported between 250 to 400 light-years across. The predominant gas is hydrogen with a lesser amount of sulfur and an even smaller amount of oxygen - my collection supports this as there did not seem to be any oxygen in any of the subexposures. The region also contains a lot of dust which with a larger field of view makes a nice frame. Unfortunately, my setup was not large enough to get the best parts of the dusty structures.

This is a very faint object and was a challenge (pain in the neck) to process. If you try this lots of data will be required and dark skies will help greatly especially for the dust. My Bortle 5 to 7 sky was a real challenge. I was not having any success bringing out the blue OIII until I used a PixInsight NB combination with RGB script and then it was more processing gymnastics. If I had to do this again from this location I would have done an HaRGB and skipped the SII and OIII.

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/6pb6up/?nc=collection&nce=712

Sh2-204 (2026)
Dates: 12-11-25, 12-14, 12-16, 12-17, 12-21, 1-7, 1-8, 1-12, 1-15, 1-19, 1-20, 1-22, 1-23, 2-2, 2-4, 2-5
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7 (f/5.6)
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII, SII, ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 249 x 300, OIII 192 x 300, SII 143 x 300, L 220 x 90, R 95 x 90, G 81 x 90, B 93 x 90  (60h 53m)

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

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

IC 1848 & Others (2025)

This is my latest version of the very large emission nebula located approximately 6500 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The designation of IC 1848 actually refers to the open star cluster in the blue portion of the image. The stellar winds of stars in the open cluster(s) are responsible for scalping out openings within the gas and dust. This process leaves behind the sharp edges and dense pillars of star forming regions that point inwards towards the star cluster(s). For some reason the entire nebular complex is nicknamed the Soul Nebula, however, my image only shows one side and consists of LBN 670, LBN 667, LBN 672, and LBN 673.

My favorites are LBN 670 in the upper right and LBN 673 in the bottom center. Each of these regions are about ten light-years long and show sharp details. Also, I did use the relatively new Multiscale Adaptive Stretch (MAS) in PixInsight and worked really well. It is pretty simple and you can adjust elements using easy to use sliders - might want to check it out. Lastly, this also happens to be the last image where all the data I collected was from 2025.

Higher Quality:

https://app.astrobin.com/u/kurtzepp?collection=712&i=idvy0n#collections

IC 1848 & Others (2025)
Dates: 11-13-25, 11-19, 11-20, 11-22, 11-23, 11-24, 11-27, 11-28, 12-6, 12-12
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7 (f/5.6)
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII, SII
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 192 x 300, OIII 174 x 300, SII 186 x 300 (46h 00m)
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: -10 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.

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