Capturing the Majestic Sh2-132: The Lion Nebula in All Its Glory

Hello fellow stargazers and astrophotography enthusiasts!

Today, I'm thrilled to share a culmination of dedication and perseverance: my latest image of the Sh2-132, affectionately known as the Lion Nebula. After painstakingly accumulating 45 hours of valuable data, I'm finally happy with the result, and I can't wait to share its wonders with you.

Sh2-132 Lion Nebula

Navigating the Colors of the Cosmos

One of the initial challenges with Sh2-132 was getting accustomed to the prominent dark blue and purple hues in this particular capture. I've seen numerous variations of this nebula, and my own initial processing led to results that differed from what I'd encountered before. After some reflection, I've come to believe this is often due to how different processing pipelines assign the SHO (Sulfur II, Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen III) data to the RGB channels. Many might employ techniques like the Narrowband Color Combination (NBC) mapper or other specialized tools to achieve these unique color palettes. It’s a fascinating aspect of astrophotography – how subtle changes in processing can dramatically alter the perceived appearance of celestial objects.

The Art of Star Processing

For the stars in this image, I adopted a slightly different approach. I dedicated approximately an hour to capturing separate Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) channels specifically for the stars. After combining this data, I utilized Russell Croman's StarXTerminator to skillfully extract the stars. I'm finding this method of capturing stars in RGB and processing them entirely separately significantly simplifies the subsequent steps and leads to cleaner, more refined star fields.

A Celestial Menagerie within Sh2-132

Sh2-132 is more than just a beautiful expanse of gas and dust; it's a hub of fascinating astronomical phenomena. Within this nebula, you can find:

Two Open Clusters: These are groups of stars born from the same giant molecular cloud, offering clues about stellar evolution.
A Hypergiant Star (RW Cephei): This colossal star is truly awe-inspiring. Its radius is so immense that if placed in our solar system, it would extend close to Jupiter!
Two Wolf-Rayet Stars: These are rare, massive stars that have shed their outer hydrogen layers, revealing their hot, luminous inner cores. They are key players in stellar evolution and supernova precursors.
Abundant Dark Nebula: These are clouds of dust and gas that obscure the light from background objects, adding depth and structure to the image.

Technical Details of the Capture

Here’s a breakdown of the equipment and software used to bring this image to life:

Total Integration: 44h 38m

Integration per Filter:

R: 51m (51 × 60")
G: 57m (57 × 60")
B: 1h (60 × 60")
Hα: 13h 40m (164 × 300")
SII: 14h 20m (172 × 300")
OIII: 13h 50m (166 × 300")

Equipment:

Telescope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P (modded)
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Filters: Antlia EDGE H-alpha 4.5nm 36 mm, Antlia EDGE OIII 4.5 nm, Antlia EDGE SII 4.5 nm, Antlia V-Pro Blue 36 mm, Antlia V-Pro Green 36 mm, Antlia V-Pro Red 36 mm
Accessories: Starizona Nexus 0.75x Newtonian Focal Reducer/Coma Corrector (NEXUS-075), ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator, Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator