The Wolf

[Paul Haese]

Located in Scorpius close to Gum 55 I happened across this nebula whilst searching for the dark tower (which does not seem to have a catalogue number). This object does not have a recognised catalogue number either, but is a very interesting looking dust lane and I thought it deserved a name. There are even gas bubbles and thin tendrils of gas nearby which are of interest too.

This image is just a teaser to what I think will be an interesting final image. 4.5 hours in Ha now but with plans to do more. My first ever automated run from one side of the meridian to the other, which included a meridian flip and focusing every half an hour via automated focusmax. Very happy with how things are panning out.

The image still has some noise in it and will most likely need another 4.5 hours just to get the noise under control. Colour will come later once I have taken care of the Ha. I will test for OIII too; to see if it can be of use the image.

Some slight tilt in the lower corners arising I think from the flange setup on the rotator. Also the halos around the stars are a pain and I have not done anything to mitigate them at this stage but welcome anyone's suggestions as to how to deal with them.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/DarkNebula.html)for larger image.

[RickS]

Nice discovery, Paul! Already a cool image but should be even better when you're finished...

[allan gould]

Nice image Paul with great detail and a very concise framing.
Where is the like button?
Allan

[Peter.M]

Nice Paul, for interests sake I found the dark tower with catalog NGC6231 which is the open cluster that is nearby.

[Shiraz]

interesting find Paul - look forward to your final image. edit: maybe you could consider "racing wolves" - seems to be another one in the distance?

[gregbradley]

A cool shot Paul. It really does look like a wolf.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Coming along nicely Paul. :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Cool area Paul, looks good already, bit contrasty perhaps but you could always fiddle with that... as I am sure you will :)

I can see the Wolf too but I see it as a landing Eagle :question:

Mike

[Peter.M]

Im with Mike on this one, I can see an eagle with talons extended to grab its prey.

[beren]

Striking image Paul looks great as is, be interesting to see the added elements.....just got my H-alpha filter too might check the area.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks all for the comments



Thanks Stuart. There are heaps of these little areas all over the region, some that are known and some that are not. Thought I might try looking around a bit before imaging one or two of the more well known objects.





Hmmm maybe, I thought the muzzle shape gave it the wolf look.



Yeah that could be a potential name Ray. Its been a race to get my automation working that is for sure.



That cluster is a little bit away from the dark tower. I found it last night with Rob Gendlers site which has the RA and DEC of the Dark Tower. That is on my list of hits this year if the sky will stay clear enough for us in SA.

[multiweb]

Very cool shot. nice image scale. :thumbsup:

[Larryp]

Nice image, Paul. I have not seen this object before. I can certainly see the wolf, but also the eagle. Look forward to seeing more of this :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

That's very cool Paul - nice find! Looking forward to the finished result! What are the coordinates?

Cheers, Marcus

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys



RA 16 53
Dec -43 28

Planning on around 20 odd hours of integration time at present.

[Ross G]

Great capture Paul.

Nice detail and I can see the wolf.

Good luck.

Ross.

[Rigel003]

Just caught up with this. Looks great and can't wait to see the colour version. Aptly named. Let's hope it catches on.

[dvj]

Great beginnings to what will be a fantastic Ha image.

j

[SkyViking]

That's brilliant Paul, I love it. What a great find!

This immediately reminded me of a drawing in a book by the Norwegian artist Louis Moe, depicting the events of Ragnarök in Norse Mythology. This particular one shows the giant wolf Fenrir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenrir) swallowing the Sun...

[mithrandir]

Paul, what appears to be this object is catalogued in:

J/ApJ/639/227/catalog "MSX IRDC (IR dark cloud) candidate catalog (Simon+, 2006)"
J/A+A/505/405/table1 "A catalogue of Spitzer dark clouds (Peretto+, 2009)" where it is named IRDC 341.935+0.313
J/AJ/136/2413/table2 "Galactic midplane Spitzer red sources (Robitaille+, 2008)"

The search I used in Vizier was for the centre of your image - 16h52m36.1s-43d31m52.1s

[Paul Haese]

Ah thanks for that. Fairly obscure catalogues for my sky6 planetarium, but nice to know it has more than one number.