SH2-301 In Canis Major

Located in Canis Majoris, near Sirius, is an often overlooked molecular cloud and star forming region named Sh2-301. The reason for its lack of observation is due to the its close proximity to the Vela Supernova Remnant and Thor’s Helmet. The nebula is distant, over 18,000 light years away in the Perseus Arm of the Milkyway. For narrow band purposes, this object is rich in the three primary NB colors: Ha, OxyIII and Sii.

When imaging under 3rd-4th magnitude skies, I have found it helpful to add a quad-band filter to the imaging train which includes the NB filters and a Starlight Express H694 monochrome CCD. This particular image was shot with a Celestron 9.25 telescope, working at F6.5.

With the weather pattern we have been experiencing, it took three nights to get the 8 hours of data seen in the image.; all shot from my home in Blanchard. The seeing was always poor, with a moderate transparency.

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Impressive