The Cave Nebula (SH2-155)

[RickS]

Perhaps my last northern object for a little while. I have a backlog of local data to process!

This is the Cave Nebula in Cepheus, an interaction between the Cepheus B molecular cloud and a group of large, hot stars. It's a great mix of emission, dark and reflection nebulae. There is also a group of Herbig-Haro objects (168, 169, 174) towards the bottom of the image at about 7 o'clock.

The gear used was a Tak FSQ-106ED on a Paramount ME with a QSI683 camera. This was a total of about 18 hours of 900s LRGB subs.

Processed in PixInsight and drizzle upsampled from a native resolution of just over 2 arcsec/pixel to around 1 arcsec/pixel.

High res here: http://www.astrobin.com/123869/

Constructive criticism welcome. Some might find the colours a bit much?

Cheers,
Rick.

[Stevec35]

That's an extremely nice and colourful Cave Rick! I did it in H alpha when I had access to the scope in Arizona. It makes me regret I never went back to get the RGB.

Cheers

Steve

[Ross G]

Great looking photo Steve.

Beautiful colours.

Ross.

[IanP]

Beautiful Rick, and crisp AS ....
:thumbsup:

[atalas]

Awesome Rick!a great object choice and lovely hues across the image.

[RickS]

Thanks, Steve. It's interesting in Ha but I think the colour adds a lot.



Ta, Ross.



Thanks, Ian. The great seeing at SRO certainly helps.



Thanks, Louie! I'm a bit like a kid in a lolly shop at present with all these northern objects to choose from :lol:

[gregbradley]

That is beautifully processed Rick.

Greg.

[Shiraz]

pretty much a perfect image Rick - outstanding.

[RickS]

Thanks Greg & Ray!

[strongmanmike]

Colour yaaay :cool: Look at those blue stars :eyepop:

Really nice vista that Ricki, so much interesting stuff :thumbsup:

Mike

[alpal]

Such a great pic & beautifully processed.

[multiweb]

Like :thumbsup:

[Placidus]

Quite beautiful.

[nebulosity.]

Totally beautiful Rick! Top shelf :thumbsup:

Jo

[Paul Haese]

Superb work Rick. Love the colour, detail in the full res is great too. Little bit of emission, some reflection and even some mottled dust. Very nice.

[Bassnut]

Excellent Rick, I like the colour balance and the blue stars really sparkle.

[RickS]

Thanks, Mike! It didn't take much encouragement to squeeze all that colour out of it. It was meant to be ;)



Thanks, Allan



and Marc



and Mike!



Ta, Jo.



Thanks, Paul. I'd never really taken much notice of this northern object before but it's really pretty cool!



Thanks, Fred!

[nandopg]

Hi Rick,
I love it !! What a super image. I would say it is the synthesis of the application of the right concepts, cooked to the perfection.
Tell me Rick, how many bias did you collect to use the super drizzle ?
Best Regards and congratulations for the outstanding result,
Fernando

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Amazing Rick!:thumbsup:

Superb colour balance, reminds me of NGC 6559 in Sagittarius.

Cheers,

Justin.

[cometcatcher]

This image has everything and it's all in balance to my eyes. I like the blue stars, I like the yellow stars, I like the red nebula, the dark nebula, the blue nebula, the dusty nebula. It's perfectly processed and balanced and I wish I could take photos like that.

[RickS]

Thanks, Fernando!

I didn't do anything special with the bias frames and can't remember how many I used to build the master for that camera. It was probably around 100.

For drizzle I think the important things are to have a decent number of subs, well-behaved dithering and good SNR.



Thanks, Justin. Yes, it does have a similar mix of features. I should go back and re-do my last NGC 6559. I struggled with the colour on that one. Perhaps I have learnt a few new tricks in the meantime :question:

[RickS]

Thanks, Kevin! There's no magic to it... at least not that I've found. Just a matter of incremental learning and improvement. Keep at it and you could be running rings around me before long.

[cometcatcher]

Not likely. I'm too old and senile now. ;)

[RickS]

Some of the young engineers at work would claim the same about me :lol: