Sh2-114 – Smaug Takes Flight from Lonely Mountain

by Bob Meincke

Objects in field: LBN 346, LBN 347, Sh2-114

Equipment: Askar 151PHQ, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Integration: 35h

From the depths of Lonely Mountain, Smaug rises. Disturbed and enraged, the great dragon takes flight—his fiery form stretching across the void as he searches for the thief who dared disturb his hoard. In this narrowband view of Sh2-114, glowing filaments of ionized hydrogen trace out a shape strikingly reminiscent of a dragon in motion, wings unfurled as if mid-hunt. Captured under Bortle 4…