skyandtelescope.org • JUNE 2020 27
mix of emission, refl ection, and dark nebulosity that makes for
a wonderful multi-hued image but requires long exposures.
South-central Cepheus is home to the expansive nebula
Sh 2-131, better known as IC 1396. This large emission
complex is almost 3° across and is a fi ne autumn target for
northern imagers using most any optic. It contains many
dark nebulae as well as the well-known Elephant’s Trunk
Nebula, vdB142, a great target for big telescopes.
Slightly more than 4° northwest
of Sh 2-131 is Sh 2-129, some-
times referred to as the Flying Bat
Nebula. This faint emission nebula
was revealed to host a large and even
fainter bipolar nebula known as Ou4,
the Squid Nebula, which consists
entirely of doubly ionized oxygen
nebulosity. Discovered just nine years
ago by French astrophotographer
Nicolas Outters, Ou4 is exceedingly
faint. I needed more than 100 hours
of exposure before I was satisfi ed
with the result.
Targets for Long Nights
One of my favorite winter targets is
the Sword of Orion, which contains
two well-known objects that also grace Sharpless’s list: the
Great Nebula in Orion (M42), also known as Sh 2-281, and
the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977), which makes the
catalog as Sh 2-279. While much can be said about these
two famous clouds of glowing gas, both sport large- and
small-scale details in camera lenses and large telescopes
alike. As one of the brightest emission nebulae, Sh 2-281 is
among the most photographed regions of the sky, beckon-
ing to both beginners and seasoned
astrophotographers.
Far north and straddling the bor-
ders of Camelopardalis and Perseus
lies Sh 2-205, sometimes referred to
as the Peanut Nebula. This large, faint
nebula requires a wide-fi eld camera
and telescope combination producing
at least a 3° fi eld of view to record the
entire object’s irregular shape.OVERSHADOWED Sh 2-119 in Cygnus
is a complex object with dark nebulous
detail usually passed over in favor of
the nearby North America Nebula a little
more than 3° to its west.tSTELLAR WINDS Another familiar object
to deep-sky imagers is NGC 6888, the
Crescent Nebula, cataloged as Sh 2-105 on
the Sharpless list. This nebula is the product
of a fi erce stellar wind emanating from the
Wolf-Rayet star at its center colliding with
the surrounding molecular cloud that fi lls
most of Cygnus.