Sh2-114 Flying Dragon in HaRGB

Description and Details: Located in the constellation Cygnus, Sharpless 2-114 (Sh2-114) is a faint and highly complex HII emission nebula famously nicknamed the "Flying Dragon Nebula." It features an intricate, filamentary structure of ionized gas that remarkably resembles the expansive wings of a mythical dragon sweeping across the cosmos. Rather than a supernova remnant, this wispy appearance is believed to be shaped by stellar winds from hot, massive stars interacting with magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. Due to its extremely low surface brightness, it represents a highly challenging yet rewarding target for deep-sky astrophotographers, requiring substantial exposure time to reveal its delicate crimson details. Sharing the same field of view is Kronberger 26 (Kn 26), a tiny bipolar planetary nebula discovered by Austrian amateur astronomer Matthias Kronberger in 2006. This object is a spectroscopically confirmed member of a rare subclass of quadrupolar planetary nebulae, exhibiting two distinct pairs of lobes that point to a complex evolutionary history of its central star. While visually nestled near the glowing filaments of the Flying Dragon in this frame, Kn 26 is physically unrelated to Sh2-114, appearing together only as a beautiful line-of-sight projection

‍ ‍Name: Michał Kania