First classified as a planetary nebula or a supernova remnant this nebula in constellation Cygnus was finally identified as something special.

Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 is a massive hot star 5000 times as luminous as our sun and close to the end of its life. Some 100000 years ago, the star evolved to its red giant phase ejected material with relatively low speed. More recently it blew off its most outer shell into space leaving a helium burning very hot giant star ejecting star winds with much higher velocity. These storms slam into the slow winds from the earlier phases generating shock waves running further into the gas clouds and also back to the star. The oxygen in this gas is heated by the shock waves and the hot stellar winds to temperatures sufficient to emit light in the blue part of the spectrum while regions of somewhat lower temperature the hydrogen in the gas emits a strong red spectral line.

The nebula is about 5000 light years away and covers an area of about 25×16 light years.

Celestron EDGE HD8 at Prime Focus F=2000mm, F/10
Skywatcher EQ6R Pro mount
ASI2600mc Pro
IDAS NBZ Dual Narrowband Filter
Bortle 4-5
Partly 50% moon
100x300sec (8h20m)

PixInsight