Sh2 - 224

Sharpless 2-224 (Sh2-224) is a supernova remnant in the constellation Auriga. Other designations for this object are SNR G166.0+4.3 and LBN 769 (The Sharpless and Lynds designations actually refer to the Ha regions within the remnant).

It is located about 3.5 ° southeast of the bright star Capella and is approximately 14700 light years away.

This large and very faint object has an unusual shape, with a shell-like structure that some people think resembles a conical hat typically made with bamboo (often seen in Asian countries).

The image is presented in the Ha-OIII-OIII palette with RGB stars. The object, especially the part in OIII, is really faint. I had planned to dedicate about 50 hours of exposure, but with my venerable CCD cameras... I ended up spending more than 70 hours (76 hours in total, including a few for the color of the stars).

As in previous images, the color balance was adjusted to my personal taste with the help of the NarrowbandNormalization module in Pixinsight. 

Click on the image for a higher resolution version, or go to the Gallery section for complete exposure details.

Image processing: Pixinsight.

Observatory automation and remote operation with Talon6