• Sh 2-63, the Eagle Ray Nebula in Sagittarius
    • Sh 2-63 in Sagittarius
    LBN 86
  • Sh 2-63, or LBN 86, is a bright nebula found in the constellation
  • Sagittarius.  Located about 717 ly from us, it is one of
  • the closest molecular clouds in our neighborhood.
  • Hover over the picture for an annotated version
  • Date:  14 July 2026
  • FOV:  approximately 105' × 70'; the angular size of Sh 2-63 is 110' × 70'
  • Rotation:  −89.996°
  • Telescope:  Stellarvue SVX102T + SFFX-1 (714mm, f/7)
  • Guiding:  ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,
  • SVBony SV165 Mini 40mm f/4 guide scope
  • Computer:  ASIair plus
  • Mount:  ZWO AM5
  • Camera:  ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS with gain 100
  • Filter:  Optolong UV/IR cut, 11 July
  • Pixel size:  3.76 μm
  • Resolution:  1.053 arcsec/pixel
  • Filter:  Optolong UV/IR cut
  • Stacking:  fifty-seven 300 second frames using Pixinsight
  • Calibration frames: 20 dark, 20 flat, 20 dark flat
  • Total Time:  4 hours and 45 minutes
  • Processing:  Pixinsight
  • MGC, DBE, SPCC, BXT, NXT → Linear
  • MultiscaleAdaptiveStretch, Sat → Stars
  • Linear:  StarXT, HTS, GHS, MStr, MAS,
  • PixelMath MStr + MAS + GHS + HST → Starless
  • PixelMath ScreenBlend(Stars, Starless), DynCrop/Scale
  • Location:  Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY