SEAGULL NEBULA

The Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) is a broad expanse of glowing gas and dust in the constellation Monoceros. As the name suggests, the nebula takes on a bird-like shape. The region includes objects with other catalog destinations: notably NGC 2327, a compact, dusty emission region with an embedded massive star that forms the bird’s head (aka the Parrot Nebula).

March 5, 2022

This would be our first-time visiting Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark. Amboy Crater is the single darkest point with a bathroom and bench in the entire geography of Southern California. Amboy is miles from anywhere and is between the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. Mojave National Preserve helps block out light pollution from Las Vegas, and Joshua Tree National Park helps block out light pollution from Los Angeles and Coachella Valley, making Amboy Crater a Bortle 2 site.

Leading up to Saturday, we noticed the weather forecast showed possible rain and clouds. On Friday, the forecast showed no rain but clouds in the area until around 6-7 PM. Since it was expected to be clear most of the night, we took the chance.

When we left in the afternoon, there were lots of clouds and some rain near home. As we were driving through the Cajon Pass, we noticed some snow falling due to the higher elevations. The skies were clear once we passed the area, and the road was dry.

We arrived at Amboy Crater just after sunset, which gave us plenty of time to set up our gear before it got too dark. When we arrived, there were still clouds in the area. When I finished setting up and was ready to polar align, I looked up and found the clouds had moved out, and the night sky was clear. I decided to image the Seagull Nebula for the night. This was also my first time using my new Antlia ALP-T dual narrowband filter. The Antlia filter has narrower bandpasses than the Optolong L-eXtreme (5nm vs 7nm), increasing the contrast between the object and the background sky. The Antila filter also has much less noticeable halos around bright stars. While my setup was imaging, I walked around to talk to other astrophotographers and assist others new to astrophotography.

Amboy Crater is a tremendous dark site and an easy drive from Los Angeles and San Bernardino. I am thrilled with my image of the Seagull Nebula. This will now be on our list of sites to return to for DSO.