SH2-9 (Sharpless 9 )

This is one you would most definitely want to add to your list of images because it lies next to the famous globular star cluster known as Messier 4. If your field of view is at least 100 by 70 arc minutes in size, you can frame the two in the same image. To add to this, SH2-9 has an excellent reflection nebula around the star itself which is surrounded by the nice red emission part of this nebula. The nebula responds very well to a Hydrogen Alpha filter, but you will need a long exposure to capture the nebula that extends around the main star. You need to be careful of getting strong reflection from Antares which is not far, so you may want to include Antares into the image if you can. The H-Alpha channel will hide the reflection nebula seen in this image, so you will need to be careful when processing it. This version of SH2-9 was published in the November 2007 issue of Sky and Telescope and in Beautiful Universe 2008, also printed by Sky and Telescope.

For a complete list of the Sharpless Catalog visit my main site at http://www.sharplesscatalog.com


Images by Dean Salman