Barnard 150, Seahorse in Cepheus new edition

Galactic Cirri, Nebulae

Barnard 150, also catalogued as LDN 1082, is a dark nebula located some 1,200 light-years from Earth in the Cepheus constellation. Unlike emission or reflection nebulae that emit or reflect light, dark nebulae are composed of dense, cold gas and dust that block the light from objects or stars behind them. They are often seen as inky, black patches against the background of brighter stars or nebulae.
 

Also known as the Seahorse nebula, it takes the name due to its shape that appears against a rich, luminous background field of stars.  Dark nebulae like B150 are regions where interstellar dust and gas are so thick that they obscure the light from stars or other objects located beyond them. This nebula is part of a larger complex of dark nebulae known as the Barnard Dark Nebulae catalog, which was compiled by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard in the early 20th century.

 

Update January 2024:

 

This is a new processing (January 2024) of the original image from September 2023. I used the new BlurXterminatir AI4, GraXpert and Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch.

 

To capture this 65 hour exposure image I used my dual refractor setup composed of two Takahashi FSQ telescopes (FSQ85 and FSQ106). With the small one, the FSQ85, I acquired the narrow band data (Ha) at a resolution of 2.12″/pixel. With the FSQ106 EDX4 I acquired the broadband data (Luminance and R,G,B) at a resolution of 1.46″/pixel. Both sets of data have been processed altogether with Pixinsight (80% of the processing) as well as other processing softwares. The resulting image shows some Ha details, rarely seen in other images. These features are mostly part of the galactic cirrus present in this field. A total of 28h25′ of solely Ha data have been captured to show this faint background glow. In the upper left part of the image we can also see an emission nebula, probably a HII region, that I have not yet been able to know its catalogue name.
 
Update Sept. 9th 2023:
 
I asked my friend Josep M. Drudis to capture a deep image with his 24″ telescope (see attached image). He also pointed out that this small Ha region was discovered back in 2017 by a French Amateur group as it follows:
 
“Observed spectroscopically by French Amateur group on 18/12/17 using C2PU Cassegrain telescope named Epsilon. Diameter 1m at F/D 7. Low S/N spectra. [NII]~H-alpha, [SII] strong, [OIII]>H-beta. Complex MIR region in WISE. Deeper French amateur spectrum from 2020 has better spectral resolution. Confirms [SII]~H-alpha. Not PN”
 
I combined this faint Ha detail with a deep integration in LRGB as follows: 33h35′ for the luminance filter, and 3h for each RGB channel.

Thanks for taking your time on this site.

Image Details

FSQ106:

L: 403 x 300″ (33h35′)

RGB: (120,120,120) x 30″ (3h)

FSQ85:

Ha: 341 x 300″ (28h25′)

 

Calibrated with darks, flats and dark-flats.

 

Total exposure: 65h

 

Moon at 15% (on average)

Image resolution: 1.46”/pixel

FOV (full image): 2º28′ x 1º38′

Equipment

FSQ106 EDX4 + ASI2600MM + LRGB Astrodon filters + Ha3nm Antlia – with ZWO EFW 7 pos

FSQ85 + ASI294MM + SHO LRGB Baader filters – with ZWO EFW 8 pos

Mesu200 mount

Guiding with ASI120MM and ZWO Mini Guide Scope

Software

SGP, PHD2, APP, PIX, LR, TPZ, PS.

Aleix Roig, January 2024
Prades (Tarragona, Catalonia – Spain).

Full HD image on Astrobin.

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