[AZ-Observing] The Snowman Nebula

It's not too often you see a snowman in Tucson.but there is one visible if
you know where to look :-)
OK I know that The Snowman Nebula is not an official name for this object,
and I don't have any authority to give it that name, but one look at it and
you will see why I'm calling emission nebula Sharpless 2-302 by that name.
It comes complete with scarf and carrot nose.

My first attempt was rather poor so I spent four nights taking new data last
week.  An inconveniently placed tree limited me to about 3 hours each night.
I took longer subs (20 minutes) in H-alpha, plus 5 minute subs in R, G, and
B to get some color.

I used a technique from Chapter 9 of Volume 3 in Adam Block's "Making Every
Pixel Count" to mix the Ha and R data to create a new R-Blend channel.  I
then made an LRGB using the Ha in place of the L (I didn't get any L data
before the clouds showed up).  I still have a lot to learn and the videos
are helping me a lot.

The result is at:

http://www.xanaduobservatory.com/Sh2-302.htm

Tiny little reflection nebula vdB97 is also visible to the right of the
"nose".

The deblooming didn't quite get it all so there are a few artifacts around
the brighter stars.

This is also my first attempt at making an informational page about the
image, rather than just a link to the image alone.

Hope you enjoy this seasonal object as much as I did!  Merry Christmas to
all!

Keith Schlottman

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Wishing You the Clearest of Skies
Xanadu Observatory
keith@xanaduobserva <mailto:keith%40xanaduobservatory.com> tory.com
http://www.xanaduob <http://www.xanaduobservatory.com> servatory.com
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