The Tulip Nebula (Sh2-101)

Tulip Nebula Sh2-101

The Tulip Nebula in Cygnus
From Wikipedia:
Sharpless 101 (Sh2-101) is a H II region emission nebula located in the constellation Cygnus. It is sometimes also called the Tulip Nebula because it appears to resemble the outline of a tulip when imaged photographically. It was catalogued by astronomer Stewart Sharpless in his 1959 catalog of nebulae. It lies at a distance of about 6,000 light-years from Earth. Sh2-101, at least in the field seen from earth, is in close proximity to microquasar Cygnus X-1, site of one of the first suspected black holes. Cygnus X-1 is the brighter of the two stars (lower star) in close vertical proximity just to the right and down from Sh2-101 in the image presented here (bright vertical pair closest to bottom right corner). It is shown with a mouse over in my friend John Mirtle's excellent shot shown here: http://www.astrofoto.ca/john/sh2-101-106.htm

Scope: Planewave 12.5" CDK
Camera: Apogee U16M w Astrondon Gen II 5nm H-Alpha and OIII filters
Mount: Paramount ME (MKS5000 upgrade)
Guided w ST-402 and Astrodon MMOAG
Acquired using CCD-Commander and TheSkyX
9x20min each of H-Alpha and OIII
Calibration, Alignment and Sigma Reject combine in Maxim
Synthetic Green Channel produced using Noel's Tools, Levels, curves and colour tweaks in PS CC

Click on the image to see it 2x larger.

Here is a wider field shot of it with the same camera and a wide-field astrograph: http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/ccd_photos/NGC6888_SH2-101_FSQ_U16M.html

Lucknow, Ontario
May 1/2/3, 2015

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