LDN 1235 - Dark Shark Nebula

The Dark Shark Nebula is part of a large molecular cloud in the constellation Cepheus. Within the nebula there are two blue reflection nebulae, vdB 149 (below the shark's head) and vdB 150 (above the shark's head), reflecting the light of stars within the nebula. The shark's nose is the dark nebula LDN 1235. There is a lot of other faint nebulosity, bright stars, and a small spiral galaxy (PGC 67671, to the right of the shark's head) in this field of view.

Cepheus Center - Wolf's Cave Nebula and Environment, telelens photograph.

Exposure Data

Instrument: 4.9" f/3.8 Wright-Newtonian
Exposure: 146 x 5 min
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro Color
Date: August 19, 2020; September 12, 2020; November 14, 2020; September 4, 2021; September 5, 2021
Location: Steyersberger Schwaig, Lower Austria; Mönichkirchen, Lower Austria; Postalm, Salzburg
Conditions: Visual limiting magnitude 6.0-6.4 mag, SQM-L sky brightness 20.9-21.4 mag/arcsec², seeing 4/5, no to low wind, low to high humidity, 3-13 °C
Autoguider: Lacerta MGEN
Enhancement: File selection and bias/dark/flat calibration, star alignment and image integration, background flattening, photometric color calibration, noise reduction, deconvolution, star-background separation, local contrast enhancement, color enhancement, star size reduction, re-adding of the stars
Notes: A combination of color images taken on different nights in the summer and fall of 2020 and 2021. The last images were taken at Postalm in September 2021 in September 2021 on two nights with high humidity, which eventually led to the formation of dew on the corrector plate of the Wright Newtonian, contributing to the large and colorful halos around bright stars.