Sharpless 2-101 & Cygnus X-1 Bowshock
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 10/14/26

 

            
A very unusual image
            to share this week for sure! Here is a field located in central
            Cygnus - the Swan of a beautiful red nebla called the Tulip Nebula.
            It looks like a side view of a tulip flower. Just to its right
            is a jelly fish shaped greenish glow. This is the shock wave
            from a nearby black hole as it strikes the surrounding gas. There
            is nothing else like it in the entire galaxy.

            
This object is utterly
            unique. This is the only target of this type that can be imaged
            by amateur astroimagers in the entire galaxy. I spent months
            aquiring data for this subject, most of it in OIII wavelengths.
            Just left of center is the Tulip Nebula in Cygnus, also known
            as Sharpless 2-101 and is a nicely detailed nebula shining in
            reds and pinks from glowing hydrogen. Just to the right of center
            we see a greenish "jelly fish" shaped object. This
            is the bow shock from the Cygnus X-1 black holes northern jet
            (visible only in radio wavelengths). It is ramming into the hydrogen
            found here forming a parabolic shaped bow shock on its leading
            edge. You can see it is filled in as well, highlighting the front
            and back of the 3 dimensional shape of this object. Just below
            it is a pair of stars, the lower one is HD226868 which the black
            hole is orbiting. The southern jet does not produce a visible
            trace as there is no nebulosity dense enough here to interact
            with. This could possibly be the best color image of this black
            holes bowshock ever taken.

            
Technical Data: 10"
            f/3.9 Newtonian astrograph, Atik 16200 CCD, RGB HOORGB = 20.25
            hours total, Payson, Az.

            
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PHOTO KEY

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Instrument:  10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  ATIK 16200 
Guider: ASI290  w/80mm WO Zenithstar 81 piggyback refractor
Exposure:  20.25 hours HaRGB
Astronomik  RGB Combine Ratio:  1: 1.05: 1.5
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  60 F
CCD Temperature:  -30 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL6:  Calibration, PixInsight:  All Remaining processing, Photoshop CS2: Production finishing 

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