NGC 7380 – The Wizard Nebula Revisited - This time with 25 Hours of SHOrgb!
Date: October 29, 2025
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0152
ANGC 7380, the Wizard Nebula, captured through narrowband filters (Hubble Palette). The long 25 hour exposure reveals intricate, billowing clouds of ionized gas and dust around the young star cluster.(click image for hi-res version via Astrobin.com)
A deep 25-hour look at the Wizard Nebula, revealing the sculpted towers and glowing gas of a young stellar nursery in Cepheus.
🔭 Project Summary
Target: NGC 7380 – The Wizard Nebula (Sh2-142)
Capture Dates: October 16, 17, 26–28, 2025
Constellation: Cepheus • Distance: ≈ 7,200 light-years
Type: Emission Nebula / Young Open Cluster
Imaging Period: October 16–28 2025 • Total Integration: 24 h 59 m (SHO + RGB)
Filters: Ha (6 nm) · O III (6 nm) · S II (6 nm) · RGB
Telescope: William Optics FLT-132 f/7 APO Refractor + 0.8× Reducer
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro (−15 °C, Gain 100 NB / 0 RGB)
Mount: iOptron CEM60 on Custom Steel Pier
Processing: PixInsight (SHO-RGB Starless Workflow) & Photoshop
Location: Whispering Skies Observatory · Honeoye Falls, NY (USA)
The WIliam Optics 132 FLT APO Platform!
Table of Contents Show (Click on lines to navigate)
About the Target
NGC 7380 is a young open star cluster embedded in a cloud of glowing gas and dust in the constellation Cepheus. The surrounding nebula’s distinctive shape has earned it the nickname Wizard Nebula, and the object also appears in catalogs as Sharpless 2-142 (Sh2-142). It lies roughly 7,000–8,000 light-years from Earth in the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. Despite its distance, the combined light of the cluster and nebula is modestly bright (around magnitude 7.2), but the nebula’s glow is spread out over an area nearly as large as the full Moon in the sky. This makes NGC 7380 an impressive expanse in photographs, although it is relatively dim to observe visually.
Discovery and Designations
NGC 7380 was first discovered by the German-born British astronomer Caroline Herschel in 1787. Her brother William Herschel subsequently incorporated this cluster into his deep-sky catalog, assigning it the designation H VIII.77. Over a century later, the nebula surrounding the cluster was also cataloged by Stewart Sharpless in 1959 as Sharpless 2-142, recognizing it as an H II emission region. In addition to these formal designations, the evocative nickname “Wizard Nebula” has become popular thanks to the nebula’s appearance. (Some sources have even dubbed it the “Flying Horse Nebula,” though Wizard is the name most commonly used).
Caroline Herschel
Frederick William Herschel.
Visual Observation
Even though the Wizard Nebula covers a fairly large patch of sky, it is considered a challenging object to observe visually. The cluster’s stars are moderately bright, but the diffuse nebular light is faint and easily drowned out by background skyglow. Exceptionally dark skies and an O-III filter are usually needed to glimpse the nebula’s glow through a telescope. By contrast, long-exposure photography brings this nebula to life – images readily capture its intricate structures and reveal the wizard-like shape that inspired its name. It can resemble a robed figure with a pointed hat, a defined nose, and even a bright star for an eye.
The Science of NGC 7380
Scientifically, NGC 7380 is noteworthy as a very young stellar cluster still embedded in the gas cloud it formed in. The cluster is only a few million years old, and its massive newborn stars are actively shaping the nebula. At the center lies a close binary of extremely hot O-type stars, whose intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas, making the nebula glow. These stars also drive powerful stellar winds that carve out cavities and pillars in the nebula, and their energy may even trigger the formation of new stars in the surrounding regions. Astronomers studying NGC 7380 have identified dozens of young stars in this cluster at various stages of development – including at least 14 still in their pre-main-sequence (early formation) phase and many hot B-type stars that pulsate in brightness – highlighting the ongoing star formation activity in this region.
On cosmic timescales, the Wizard Nebula is a transient phenomenon. Astronomers estimate that the glowing nebula will disperse and fade in only a few million years as the cluster’s massive stars gradually blow away the remaining gas. However, some of the stars recently born in this region will outlive our Sun by billions of years, and the nebula may even give birth to additional new stars before it vanishes. NGC 7380 provides scientists with a snapshot of a stellar nursery in its early stages – a vibrant laboratory for studying how massive stars form and their influence on their surroundings. Its striking blend of visual beauty and scientific intrigue has made the Wizard Nebula a celebrated target for both astrophotography enthusiasts and professional astronomers alike.
Annotated Image
Created in Pixinsight using the ImageSolver and AnnotateImage scripts.
The Location in the Sky
This annotated image created with Imagesolver and FInderChart Scripts in Pixinsight.
About the Project
Planning and Weather
Finally, we have those wonderfully long fall nights with almost 11 hours of darkness!
During the last lunar cycle, I ended with five clear nights to capture data. However, on four of those nights, the weather apps indicated that it would not be very clear. In the past, this would have been enough to have me skip the night. It did not sound like it would be worth the effort to set up all that gear! But not that the observatory is up and running - I have no gear to set up! Yay! This means I am much more willing to go after those questionable nights.
I have an astro friend who is a weather buff (I’m looking at you, Gary Optiz!). Gary is an accomplished astrophotographer, and he scans the weather, consults government weather satellite data, and makes his own estimate of how the night will go. He also shares that info with our small local group of astrophotographers and even gives us updates throughout the night. How great is that!
The apps told me it would be a questionable night, but Gary said our chances looked good - so on Gary’s word, I went for it!
I ended up with four nights that were clear all night and one that was good for half a night.
I never know how the weather will go, so I typically research objects I can shoot with each scope - just in case. I chose four to begin with, and the Wizard Nebula was one of those.
Why did I choose it?
I really like this particular object.
I first shot this in 2020 and was very proud of the result - I wanted to see if I could improve on that effort.
I now have a wider field of view with the William Optics 132mm, thanks to the addition of the Flattener/0.8X reducer, and I thought that wider framing would be interesting. This also reduced the f/ratio of the scope, and I wanted to see how that helped.
I am also now using the next-generation camera.
The target is set around 3:30 am. I had several other targets that set about the same time. After the first night, I realized I had a chance to pursue a second set of targets. I added those, and that is how I ended this lunar session with data for a total of 8 targets!
The First Attempt
The first time I shot it was in August of 2020. It was about a year after I started my astro photo journey. You can read about that project here:
Here is the image that resulted:
My first attemp with this target was done in August of 2020. I was super proud of this effort!
I was super proud of this image at the time!
Why was that?
It had 10 hours of integration - the longest I had done at that point. Back then, I thought getting 3 or 4 hours was hard!
It was the first image where I used starless processing using StarNet.(hand fixing the residual blemishes!)
It was the first image where I captured RGB stars and substituted them for narrowband stars.
So - could I do better now? I was going to find out!
Data Collection
Data was collected on the nights of October 16, 17, 26, 27, and 28, 2025.
The nights were cold enough that I could set a camera cooling target to -15 degrees C, and I knew the cameras could handle it. I set things up to do 300-second narrowband exposures with a camera gain of 100.
On the third night, I added RGB filter collection with 90-second subs and a gain of 0 to the mix.
The NINA sequence handled things very well, and my tracking looked consistently good.
I find that I spend very little time in the observatory now on these cold nights. I go there to open the roof and uncap the scopes. Then everything else is handled remotely from my nice warm astro man cave. From there, I connect the devices to NINA and kick things off. That’s about it. NINA uses Pushover to send me alerts if necessary. I have a sofa in my Astro Man Cave, so I sleep there and check on things if I get a Pushover notification or if I am up for a bio-break. In the morning, I go back to the observatory, cap the scopes, and close the roof!
On two of the nights, I experienced frost, and each night we had a significant amount of dew. Fortunately, my anti-dew strips handled that perfectly. That was not true on all of my scopes, and I share that tale when I get to those images.
The moon was getting bright on the night of October 28th, but set relatively early. However, I knew that the next night, the moon would start causing problems with my data collection, which was nearing its end. Additionally, rain had moved into the area, and there was no further opportunity for data capture.
On the night of Oct 29th, I collected all of my calibration data, and with that in hand, I was ready to process this image.
The project generated over 900 files, occupying 52GB of storage on my hard drive!
Processing Overview
No drizzle processing was used with this project.
I blinked the data and removed a handful of frames due to thin clouds or obstruction when the target had set. Even after this, I ended up 30 seconds shy of a full 25 hours of integration! This is my longest yet!
Since I had collected both Narrowband and RGB data, I used my standard processing workflow for this case. You can see a high-level view of this workflow in the diagram below.
My typical SHO Starless Workflow with RGB stars.
The processing was pretty straightforward. With 25 hours of integration, I was not fighting noise issues at all.
I did my standard linear process for RGB and Narrowband. This results in a starless narrowband image of the nebula and a stars-only RGB image.
When I took star images nonlinear, I chose three levels of stars - from smallest to largest - so that I could later determine which one looked better in this image. In the past, when I had relatively few stars, I liked them bigger. But this image has zillions of stars, and I guess that they will dominate too much, and I suspected I’d need to subdue them a bit. With a few different starting positions, I will have a choice.
With the nonlinear image, I created a WarmMask and a CoolMask. This allows me to adjust the tone and color of these regions selectively. Typically, I also tend to do more sharpening or contrast enhancement in the Warm regions. I tend to find that cool regions don’t do well with sharpening, and I stay away from it here.
I also created a few gradient masks with the GAME script so I could selectively adjust some of the white pillars and plumes in the image.
Detailed and Annotated Image Processing Walkthrough
Typically, I conclude one of these imaging projects by documenting the processing steps I used on this image. But this section can make the overall post very large and, at times, slow to load.
I am now creating a secondary, standalone page to hold this information. You can access this page by clicking the link below. Returning to this page is as simple as clicking the back arrow in your browser or selecting a different menu option at the top of the page.
I hope you like this new format!
Hit the Link below to see the detailed image processing walkthrough page for this Imaging Project!
Final Results
I always liked my first attempt at the Wizard Nebula. I hoped to improve on it with the new equipment and longer integration times, but I was not sure I really could.
However, I am really pleased with the new result!
The nebula is much broader in scope with increased detail and textures. The noise is almost a non-issue, and broader framing really seems to work. I am very happy with this new version and hope you like it too!
Your feedback on this image would be welcome!
More Information
🔭 Target Details
SIMBAD: NGC 7380 (open cluster) – Authoritative catalog entry with identifiers, basic parameters, bibliography links, and cross-references.
Aladin Lite: NGC 7380 – Interactive sky atlas centered on NGC 7380; pan/zoom, switch surveys, and overlay catalogs.
NOIRLab Image: Wizard Nebula / NGC 7380 – Calibrated, high-resolution outreach image with a concise object summary and credits.
AstroBin: NGC 7380 (curated image page) – Representative high-quality AstroBin presentation of the Wizard Nebula, with acquisition details and equipment.
📜 History & Naming
Wikipedia: NGC 7380 – Overview of the open cluster and associated emission nebula (Sh2-142), including discovery by Caroline Herschel (1787) and common nicknames.
NASA/JPL Image Article: “NGC 7380” – NASA write-up on the cluster/nebula, distance, and context within Cepheus.
Fort Lewis College Observatory: Wizard Nebula – University observatory page noting discovery history and narrowband imaging context.
🔬 Science & Observations
AJ (2011): Kinematic & Photometric Study of NGC 7380 – Proper motions, radial velocities, distance (~2.6 kpc), age, and cluster structure.
MNRAS (2015): Variable Stars in Young Open Cluster NGC 7380 – Time-series photometry of cluster variables, including PMS and B-type pulsators.
RAA (2012): Possible Herbig Ae/Be Star in NGC 7380 – Spectroscopy/photometry pointing to a Herbig Ae/Be candidate near cometary nebula features.
ESA XMM-Newton (program context: DH Cep in NGC 7380) – Proposal/data note tying the massive O-star binary DH Cep (ionizing source) to X-ray population studies in the cluster.
💡 Interesting Facts & Outreach
APOD (2025-10-08): NGC 7380 – The Wizard Nebula – Recent APOD featuring the region’s star-forming towers and UV-sculpted structures.
APOD (2023-10-31): Halloween and the Wizard Nebula – Seasonal close-up emphasizing the “wizard” silhouette and ionization fronts.
APOD (2020-09-04): The Wizard Nebula – Wide-field framing of the cluster embedded in Sh2-142 with distance/context notes.
TheSkyLive: NGC 7380 – Finder & Visibility – Practical finder charts, approximate size/magnitude, and observing visibility tools
Capture Details
Lights Frames
Taken the nights of October 16, 17, 26, 27, and 28, 2025
97 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100, Astronomiks 6nm Ha Filter - 36mm unmounted.
93 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100, Astronomiks 6nm O3 Filter - 36mm unmounted.
91 x 300 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 100, Astronomiks 6nm S2 Filter - 36mm unmounted.
21 x 90 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 0.0, ZWO Red Filter - 36mm unmounted.
21 x 90 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 0.0, ZWO Green Filter - 36mm unmounted.
21 x 90 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Gain 0.0, ZWO Blue Filter - 36mm unmounted.
Total - after culling bad subs - of 24 hours, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds.
Cal Frames
30 Darks at 300 seconds, bin 1x1, -15C, gain 100
30 Darks at 90 seconds, bin 1x1, gain 0.0
25 Dark Flats at Flat exposure times, bin 1x1, -15C, gain 0 for RGB and gain 100 for narrowband
One set of Flats done:
15 Ha Flats
15 O3 Flats
15 S2 Flats
15 R Flats
15 G Flats
15 B Flats
Capture Hardware
Scope: William Optics 132mm f/7 FLT APO Refractor
Flattener/Reducer: P-FLAT7A 0.8X Reducer
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Cam Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Guide Scope: Sharpstar 61EDPHII
Guide Focus Motor: ZWO EAF
Mount: Ioptron CEM 60
Tripod: Custom Steel Pier - New!
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro
Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW 7x36mm II
Filters: ZWO Gen II 36mm Unmounted LRGB
Astronomiks 36mm Unmounted 6nm Ha, O3, and S2 Filters
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290MM-Mini
Dew Strips: Dew-Not Heater strips for Main and Guide Scopes
Power Dist: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox
USB Dist: Startech 8 slot USB 3.0 Hub
Polar Align Cam: IPolar
Computer: Mele Quieter 4C Fanless Micro-Computer running Windows 11
Software
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, NINA
Image Processing: Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second-guessing, editor regret and much swearing…..
Version 4.1 of the Williams Optics 132mm platform is focused on moving into my newly completed Whispering Skies Observatory.
The upgrades include moving to a custom steel pier and shifting to a new Mele Quiter 4-C Micro Computer running Windows 11.