Sh 2-261/Lower's Nebula OSC narrow-band imaging in SHO palette
Photo by James Nelson
Scope / Lens
Explore Scientific ED APO 127mm f/7.5
Camera
QHYCCD QHY268 C
Exposure
Frames:Askar Colour Magic C2 Duo-band Filter (SII+OIII) 2": 126x360"(12h 36')
Optolong L-Ultimate 2": 128x300"(10h 40')
Integration:
23h 16'
Description
Sh2-261, aka LBN 863, SIM 234, or Lower's Nebula was discovered by an amateur astrophotographer Harold Lower in the 1930s. He and his son Charles pioneered deep sky astrophotography capturing faint nebulous objects using a self made f/1 8" Schmidt camera with red filters and red sensitized film and publishing his discoveries in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1939. Some also refer to it as the Big Brain Nebula due to shape and convolutions reminiscent of the sulci of the brain. It's located 3200 light yrs away in Orion's right arm.The image consists of slightly over 23 hrs of integration using an OSC camera and Ha/Oiii, Sii/Oiii narrow band filters. The color channels were split with S assigned to the red channel, H the green channel, and Oiii the blue channel from both filters combined. L-RGB integration was done to produce the SHO image.
ID: 1608