Soaring Birds

This image shows the rising Seagull Nebula soaring high above Mt. Druesberg in central Switzerland.

The Seagull Nebula is an emission nebula on the borders of the constellations of Monoceros and Canis Major. Its location 10 degrees below the celestial equator puts it rather low for northern hemisphere observers, which may be the reason why it is not as famous as other nebula that rise higher during the night.

For deepscapes however, a deep space object needs to hug the horizon, which makes the Seagull Nebula a perfect target.

Despite careful planning, the resulting image contains a big surprise: The Seagull Nebula is not that splendid bird with a bright body and wispy wings and tail you can see in this deep image. I didn't even know that these structures exist. What is known as the Seagull Nebula is just the bright body part that remotely resembles a soaring bird on its own - it is the bird in a much bigger, more detailed bird! How awesome!

EXIF

Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/4

Baader Ultra Narrowband H-alpha and Olll filters

Modified Skywatcher AZ-GTI mount, controlled with ASIair

Sky:

Canon EOS 6D @ 200mm:

26 x 60s @ ISO1600 for RGB

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro @ 96mm (to match the 200mm full frame FOV)

20 x 300s H-alpha @ Gain 200

10 x 300s Olll @ Gain 200

Foreground:

8 x 90s @ ISO1600

Copyright: Ralf Rohner