Sh2-302, also known as the Snowman Nebula, is a red emission nebula located in the constellation Puppis, about 5,800 light years away. It’s part of the Gum Nebula, which occupies the lower southern skies in winter. The nebula has a visual diameter of 15 arc minutes and is located near the boundary between Puppis and Canis Major.
Sh2-302 is one of many objects in a catalog compiled by astronomer Stewart Sharpless to identify areas of interstellar ionized hydrogen, or HII regions.
I captured this photograph Feb 18, 2024 and March 13, 2024 using a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED telescope at a fl of 840mm and a ZWO ASI071MC Pro astrophotography camera with an Antlia quad-band light pollution filter. These are mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6r Pro German Equitorial Mount. The image acquisition software that controls everything is APT (Astro Photography Tool). Total exposure of 4.4 hrs. 75 exposures were integrated and processed using Pixinsight.
