SH2-203 (Sharpless 203 )

This dim loose object is found in northern Perseus and is a good object for a field of view around two degrees. The nebula is fairly dim and needs a lot of exposure time to bring out the contrast. The hydrogen-alpha filter seems to work best with this object as I did not pick up much RGB in the color exposures. So blending the H-Alpha channel and the red and blue seem to help. You will want to preserve the small reflection nebula seen in this image by doing a composite in Photoshop. A larger telescope with about the same field of view may pick up some the finer structure in the nebula, but longer F-ratio systems will need long exposures.

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

Images by Dean Salman