Fall 2024
Target: The Ghost Nebula, Sharpless 2-136 (Sh2-136/Vdb 141)
Status: Complete
The Ghost Nebula (designated Sh2-136, VdB 141) is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus.
It lies near the cluster NGC 7023. Looking at the adjacent image, the nebula’s name is easily understood. The Ghost Nebula is referred to as a globule (catalogued CB230) and over 2 light-years across. There are several stars embedded, whose reflected light make the nebula appear a yellowish-brown colour. [Source: Wikipedia]
The image below consists of approximately 116 hours of imaging data. The image was generated by Mike W. by processing the combined data to represent the efforts of everyone involved.
The BHAS members who contributed data to the project, the equipment used, and the amount of data from each is shown below. The first number is the number of images, followed by the each image’s time in seconds, then converted into total minutes.
| Equipment | Data | |
| Hank F. | Telescope/Mount: Celestron NexStar Evolution 8 Camera: Mallincam DS 10C |
20 x 300s = 100m |
| Chris K. | Telescope: TSOptics f/11 ED refractor Mount: iOptron CEM70 Camera: QSI683wsg-8 or ASI533MC Pro |
234 x 300s = 1170m |
| Rod M. | Telescope: Planewave DeltaRho 350. Aperture: 350mm, focal length: 1050mm. Mount: Bisque Paramount MX+ (Upgraded to MKS 6000 Electronics) Camera: Moravian C3 61000EC PRO (Monochrome) |
257 x 360s = 1542m |
| Ken T. | Telescope: Explore Scientific ES152 Mount: Celestron CGEM DX Camera: ASI293MC Pro |
525 x 180s = 1575m |
| Rick V. | Telescope: Celestron f/5 Newtonian, Aperture 200mm, focal length: 1000mm Mount: Celestron AVX Camera: ASI533MC |
131 x 120s = 262m |
| Mike W. | Telescope: Askar 151 PHQ Mount: ZWO AM5 Camera: ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro |
265 x 300s = 1325m |
| Harold V. | Telescope: PlaneWave CDK 12.5, focal length: 2548, f(7.9) Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MX+ Camera: QHY 600 |
95 x 300s = 475m |
| Kip | Telescope: Askar 130PHQ, focal length: 1000mm, Aperture: 130mm Mount: iOptron CEM70G on iOptron Permanent Pier Camera: QHY268M Pro |
186 x 180s = 558m |
| Total: | 1713 images used comprising of 7007 minutes of imaging time for 116.8 hours to create one image |