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250920 - Sh2-112 "Nautilus" nebula

ASTRO: type=emission nebulae mag=(unk) const=Cygnus dist=5600 ly size=30 ly IMAGE: location=EB Driveway + Marathon Sky Park BrtlCls=4 moon=46% exposure=CMOS OSC: 177x300s (14.8h), G100 color palette=HOO EQUIPMENT: ​ optics=ES102CF APO / Stellarvue 1.0x fld-fltnr, FL=714mm, f/7.0 camera=ZWO ASI2600MC=Pro filter=Optolong L-eXreme DNB mount=Celestron AVX EQ guiding=Orion 60x240mm, ZWO ASI224MC SOFTWARE: acquisition=Stellarium, NINA, PHD2 processing=PixInsight (RCAstro), Photoshop (Lumenzia, APF-R, WebSharpPro), LrC
click image to enlarge
Sh2-112, also known as LBN 337, is a diffuse emission nebula located on the surface of a huge sphere of cold, molecular hydrogen, in a portion of the Orion Spiral Arm, and that is noted for areas of rich star formation. It's a circular region of H-II with dark dust rifts that surround the object on all sides. Lying about 5.600 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus (the "Swan"), it’s apparent location is very close to the North America nebula; but, it is twice as far away; making it a small object in the apparent visual sense. This whole area of Cygnus is dominated by the Milky Way and is awash in faint nebulosity. Working thru the math at that distance, the nebula's size is appx 30 ly across - much larger than one might initially think, and being on the same scale of size as M42, the great nebula in Orion. The star responsible for the nebula's excitation is believed to be BD+45 3216, a double blue star of spectral class O8V with an apparent magnitude of 9.18. The stellar pair has about 30x the mass of our sun and radiates strongly in the ultra-violet wavelengths of light. This nebula does not seem to be a particularly popular imaging target. ...perhaps because of its apparent small size; it is nonetheless quite beautiful. This image has been processed in the HOO color palette with a small amount of synthetic sulfur added as an artistic accent. There is not any common name associated with this object. It appears there simply hasn't been enough attention given to it by astronomers for a popular name to emerge. Unlike this object's catalogued numerical designations which are permanently and unambiguously registered with the International Astronomical Union ("IAU"), common names of nebulae are not recorded or registered at all. They exist only by a loose consensus among the astronomical community at-large. As a result, many common names of nebulae have, and do change frequently. With that said, this AP'er likes to think of this object as appearing somewhat like a Nautilus, the beautiful Earthly sea creature and shellfish that lives inside its own helical-shaped shell.

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