Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid (Gary Seven)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cepheus (Cep) · Contains: HD201063 · HD201344 · HD201429 · HD202214 · HD202380 · HD203534 · HD203551 · HD203574 · HD203627 · HD203695 · HD239582 · HD239618 · HD239626 · LBN 441 · LBN 445 · LBN 449 · LBN 453 · Sh2-129

Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

I had heard that this could be a difficult target and said to myself "How hard can it be? Collect data. Process image. Done."

OMG was this a difficult one!

The H-a part is very easy.

The issue (for those unfamiliar) is the Squid, only revealed in the O-III data. The outline of the Squid shows up well. The interior is extremely faint, scarcely above the noise level of the field in general.

My first attempt had a very translucent appearance - more like a Jellyfish than a Squid. Subsequent processing attempts only looked worse. What I am publishing here is the first attempt. So many versions ago I hardly remember what my processing flow was ;-)

After spending an inordinate amount of time with it, I decided the answer was to get more - lots more - O-III data under more transparent Autumn skies and vigorously cull it based on SNR. And hopefully improve my processing techniques and skills.

Original
Final
B

B

Title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Description: An old image revisited. The H-a sections of the nebula looked a bit too orange to my eye, so I wanted to fix that. Also, gave the Squid a bit more attention in processing. What I really need is more Oiii data for better S/N, but thus far schedule has not allowed for that.

Also, I felt the benefits of 2x drizzle were very small in this case, so I opted for 1x for smaller file size.

Uploaded: ...

N.I.N.A. Users
Arizona Astrophotographers
Takahashi FSQ 85 EDX
ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Cloudy Nights

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9880806
PixInsight job	2Q34ZLNP81W8IPB6YSS6DPR1QAGGVQ1J
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	21h11m42s.79
RA (top/left)	21h23m32s.84
RA (top/right)	20h59m46s.61
RA (bottom/right)	21h00m33s.17
RA (bottom/left)	21h23m00s.13

Dec (center)	+59°56′16″.6
Dec (top/left)	+60°52′47″.3
Dec (top/right)	+60°51′30″.4
Dec (bottom/right)	+58°55′58″.10
Dec (bottom/left)	+58°57′15″.10

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Sh2-129 and OU4 - The Bat and the Squid

Revision title: Sh2-129 and OU4 Version 2

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Revisions

B

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

Delete this revision?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information