LDN1235 - The Dark Shark Nebula

An area of interstellar dust and gas in the constellation of Cepheus showing a remarkable resemblance to a shark.

The area includes two reflection nebula, these are the blue areas lit up by bright stars, and also a number of small galaxies.

Distance from Earth: 650 Light Years  
2023-11-15 LDN1235 Dark Shark Nebula
2023-11-15

Scope   : CFF 135/926
Mount   : EQ6R-Pro (DFO StellarDrive)
Camera  : QHY600 Lite
Filters : Chroma
 • Red  : 80 x 240s
 • Green: 80 x 240s
 • Blue : 89 x 240s
	  
Total Integration : 16.6 hours

This is a rather faint target and not easy from our Bortle 4 skies. I spent hours trying to remove light pollution gradients before finding an acceptable, if not ideal solution. 

Noise was also problematic and again I settled for a compromise solution which has removed the worst noise but has made the image look slightly waxy. 

Data for this image was captured over five sessions between August and November 2023.