SH2-308 by Dave Collings
Submitted by Chelsea Chin
SH2-308: Dolphin Head Nebula
This is the Dolphin Head Nebula (SH2-308) imaged in HOO. Sh2-308, commonly known as the Dolphin-Head Nebula, is an H II region located near the center of the constellation Canis Major, composed of ionized hydrogen. The nebula is bubble-like and surrounds a Wolf–Rayet star named EZ Canis Majoris. This star is in the brief, pre-supernova phase of its stellar evolution. The nebula is about 4,530 light-years away from Earth but some sources indicate that both the star and the nebula are up to 5,870 ly away.
The Dolphin Head Nebula took me 3 weeks to gather the data to finish. The OIII signal is weak so it takes a lot of hours to get the details to pop in the Blue Oxygen. The Ha is much fainter but adds to the overall beauty of the image. You can see the Dolphin’s head, mouth, eye, nose, and awesome details. Really cool to look at and amazing that these beautiful nebulas are out there for us to image and share with the world.
- Plane Wave 12.5” CDK with the 0.66 PW Reducer sitting on an Astro-Physics AP1100GTO CP4 mount.
- My main camera is the ATIK 16200 Mono with EFW3 Filter Wheel with Chroma narrowband filters.
- Guider is an Astromania 400mm refractor with an ASI 290MM guide camera.
- Total integration time was >12 hours of OIII and Ha.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA