BACKYARD SPACE in JOHNSTON: The Tulip Nebula

In the constellation Cygnus there is an H-ii emission nebula called Sharpless 101 (Sh2- 101). When imaged you can see the outline of a tulip and was catalogued by Stewart Sharpless in his 1959 catalog of nebulae. 

Its roughly located 6,000 Light-years from Earth.  Above the Tulip, a blue cloud of dust is faintly seen. This is the location of the micro quasar Cygnus X-1, on of the first suspected Black Holes.

Over the course of one night I managed to image the Tulip Nebula in Ha, Oiii, and Sii. This allowed me to integrate the separate channels into an RGB image.

I used an astronomical photo editing software to stack and bring out the nebulosity. This image was taken in my backyard in Johnston.

Technical Card:

• Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics Zenith 73 II
• Imaging cameras: QHYCCD QHY183M
• Mounts: SkyWatcher EQ6R-Pro
• Guiding cameras: ZWO ASI120MM-Mini ASI120MM-Mini
• Focal reducers: Williams Optics Flat73A
• Software: Adobe Phosotshop CC  ·  PixInsight  ·  NINA 10.1  ·  Sharpcap  ·  PHD2 Guiding 2.62 PHD2.62  ·  Deek Sky Stacker
• Filters: Astronomik OIII 1.25" 6nm  ·  Optolong SII 1.25" 6.5nm  ·  Astronomik Ha 1.25" 6nm
• Dates:Aug. 6, 2021
• Frames: 23x600" (3h 50')
• Integration: 3h 50'
• Avg. Moon age: 27.53 days
• Avg. Moon phase: 4.48%

 EDITOR’S NOTE: Lucas “Luc” Maguire captured this image from his backyard in Johnston. He will be submitting his deep space images to the Sun Rise for publication each week. Maguire’s photography can also be found at his Instagram account @oceanstateastro and his Twitter feed @OceanStateAstro.