This is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation of Cepheus, surrounded by emission nebulosity known as the Wizard Nebula because of its shape. With some imagination you can see the wizard with a hat, face, arms and legs. It is located some 8500 light years from our solar system in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way.
These exposures of the Wizard Nebula were taken in February 2022 using the galaxy rig (see equipment page). In total 36 x 5 minute exposures with Ha, Oiii and SII filters each were obtained, total exposure time 9 hours. I was unhappy with the final result after processing these images in PixInsight at that time. I therefore re-processed the material in November 2023 with updated software and skills to produce this image which I am more pleased with.
I´ve been watching quite a few YouTube clips to learn more about astrophotography including what gear to use and how, targets to shoot and how to process my images. I follow and regularly watch a few “astro-YouTube channels” that I find especially informative and entertaining and would like to mention a few here: AstroBackyard, Nebula Photos with Nico Carver, Cuiv The Lazy Geek, Dylan O´Donnell, Alyn Wallace and Adam Block. If you’re interested or just curious – do watch their YouTube channels! For instance, Alyn Wallace tells us what to look for in the night sky every month. And Dylan O´Donnell perhaps presenting the most entertaining channel of them all, always ending his clips with the words “… and remember, everything is meaningless and we’re all going to die…”