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View Full Version here: : SH2-22 - A Butterfly in Sagittarius


Andy01
02-10-2021, 02:14 PM
Rarely imaged on it's own, this diffuse nebula SH2-22 also cataloged as LBN 14 is located in Sagittarius, only 3 degrees southwest of it's famous neighbour - M8. :D

This is a ring nebula surrounding the O8 III giant 63 Ophiuchi (HD 16297, which lies at the edge of the Sgr OB1 association in the Sagittarius arm.

Reminiscent of butterfly wings, the nebula is rich in Ha. Although the nebula is about 80×50 arc minutes in size, little is known because of its faintness.

Wikipedia mentions the following... 63 Ophiuchi is an O-type giant star in the constellation Sagittarius. In 1983, astronomers from the Sternberg Astronomical Institute in Moscow, Russia identified a faint, shell-shaped nebula surrounding the star that was being excited by the star's energy. Named Sharpless 22, this ring-shaped nebula has a double-shell structure with an inner envelope spanning 45–50′ (9–18 pc), surrounded by a diffuse envelope some 65–80′ (14–29 pc) across.

I imaged this originally in Ha & S2 (https://www.astrobin.com/full/2axmsv/0/), there being no obvious signs of O3.

However, this nebula now sits much more comfortably in the wider FOV of my new 0.7 Tak TOA35 reducer, :) but being so late in the season, I've elected to use Ha and LRGB only.
Out of curiosity, I could only find two other images of this on the web and Astrobin and this one is perhaps the deepest to date.

Link to ASTROBIN (https://www.astrobin.com/full/r9bc8g/0/)

Taken from my Bortle 6-7 light polluted backyard in Melbourne during lockdown 6 - day 11, 492.5 :sadeyes:

matlud
02-10-2021, 04:45 PM
Great image Andy! Very nice framing with the wider FOV giving the wings some room to breath, and you really have the reducer dialled in well 👍. I have to say I quite liked the Argon glow lamp palette on the original, which added some nice tonality, and would love to see this FOV with that palette 😀

Andy01
02-10-2021, 05:02 PM
Thanks Matthew! :D
I’m really enjoying this scope now with this new reducer.
Unfortunately it’s now so late in the season, combined with the dreadful weather we’re having means we’ll have to wait until next year to gather 4-6 hrs more S2 data - something to look forward to though!
Meanwhile time to move on, probably back to the next bit of the LMC that you have so kindly mapped for us in it’s entirety! :lol:

gregbradley
02-10-2021, 07:33 PM
A great image Andy. We have sister setups TOA130 and reducer and AP130 and quad reducer.

I like the look this setup gives. Tiny stars too.

Greg.

Andy01
03-10-2021, 10:03 AM
Thanks Greg - It's taken almost a year to properly sort out this beasty, but persistence has paid off and it's a joy to use now. :D

Emuhead
03-10-2021, 09:45 PM
Very cool, something completely new to my eyeballs. Thanks for that.

Im doing time in the same joint too. Have lost count of the days. Hopefully tomorrow they let us out in the yard for an hour or two recreation. Now wheres my harmonica.

PKay
04-10-2021, 02:17 PM
Superb, perfect, all those good words...

Nice one Andy :thumbsup:

Andy01
04-10-2021, 02:55 PM
Cheers Andrew, lockdown is good for home maintenance at least, so far have weeded the gardens, landscaped a bit, repainted all the fences, pressure cleaned the tiles around the pool and on to redoing the decks with decking oil next - when this ever ends I'll be ready to party! :lol:



Thanks Peter, appreciate the good vibes. :D

strongmanmike
05-10-2021, 09:50 AM
Great looking image Andy :thumbsup:

Mike