Sh2-188 is one of the dimmer objects that I imaged during our recent trip to the dark skies at Dell City, Texas.
Sh2-188, also called the Dolphin Nebula or Shrimp Nebula, is a planetary nebula – the gases expelled from a star before it becomes a white dwarf, lit up by that star. It’s located in the Milky Way, approximately 2770 light years away, and it’s approximately 8.2 light-years across, giving it an apparent size of 10 arcminutes. It’s estimated to be 22,500 years old.
The nebula’s bow shape (as opposed to a circular shape) is theorized to be due to its relatively high velocity interaction with the interstellar medium.
The objects in our galaxy never cease to amaze me!
Camera geek info:
- Canon EOS 60D in manual mode, 3 minute exposure, ISO 2000
- Intervalometer
- Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
- Williams Optics Flat 73A
- iOptron CEM40
- Dell City, Texas Bortle 2-3 dark skies
Frames:
- October 9, 2023
- Run 1
- 59 3 minute lights
- 30 0.01 second flats
- 30 0.01 second flat darks
- Run 2
- 76 3 minute lights
- 30 1/400 second flats
- 30 1/400 second flat darks
- 17 3 minute darks
- Run 1
Processing geek info:
- PixInsight
- BlurXterminator
- NoiseXterminator
- StarXTerminator
- Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch