Sh2-132

The New Ghost Rider

 in Blog  tagged Ghost Rider Nebula / PixInsight / QHY268 / Sh2-132

Last week the sky was clear every night, and although most nights either the seeing or transparency was poor, I was out every night capturing photons from this target.  This was using my new camera, a QHY268M.  I had tried it a couple of months ago (see the last post), but had trouble with internal reflections in the telescope, which have now been fixed.  So this, technically, not “first light” for this camera, but I’m going to call it that anyway, and can say that it is a great camera.  I used exposures of 5 minutes for each filter on […]

Power*Star Pro Tips: Oops!

 in Blog  tagged Auto Dew Control / Auto On / bug / Ghost Rider Nebula / Power*Star / Pro Tips / Sh2-132

Before getting into the latest edition of Pro Tips, I want to remind you of the nebula pictured above, Sh2-132.  When I first shot this about 5 years ago I immediately saw a motorcycle and ghostly rider, which made me think of the “Ghost Rider” movie.  Some people refer to this as the Lion Nebula (which I don’t see at all), but there is some disagreement about that name, so I’m trying to get it changed to the Ghost Rider Nebula.  To that end I am re-shooting this, and plan to collect at least 20 hours. Back to Pro Tips:  […]

I Couldn’t Resist

 in Blog  tagged Ghost Rider / Sh2-132 / Sharpless

I’m very busy and more than a little sleep deprived, but I have to share this with you:  I knew when I saw the first Hydrogen-alpha frame that this was going to be an interesting image, so after completing the capture Tuesday night, I processed it – and was even more pleased with the final image than expected. The object is another from the Sharpless catalog, Sh2-132.  Like many of the objects in the Sharpless catalog, it doesn’t have a common name, but I’m going to call it “The Ghost Rider Nebula”.  Do you see it?  The large arc in […]