I do not live, nor do I have easy access to a dark site location. However, once a year, I do find the time to visit a Bortle 3 for a few weeks. Because of this, I always try to push my gear to the limits and make the most out of the skies. I think it goes without saying, that most of us Astrophotographers grow bored of the same old targets after a while, and that's why I choose to shoot something more difficult and rarely shot instead of pushing out 5 images of popular targets. They may be of good quality, but there is no value of singularity.

This year, I went for the dark nebula LBN-438, often also referred to as "The Lizard Pillar". LBN-438 is an incredible target. Despite this, I have noticed that only very few images of this target existed. I hope that in the future, more people can be motivated to shoot this awesome target. I do have to admit though: This target was pretty faint. LBN-438 itself came out quite quickly, but the surrounding dusts and the mixture of faint H-alpha were quite challenging. Because of this, I would also like to thank my collab partner @Jens Unger, who decided to dedicate an addititional 10.5hrs of data for this project with his remote telescope in spain (also Bortle 3). Jens, your data was really helpful, even if it was only about 10% of the final image in terms of integration time. I am looking forward to doing more collabs in the future .

However, the attentive observer may have already noticed the little "jet"-like structure right above LBN-438 (See also Img 1). I have not seen any of the other images show this structure before. Because of its unique structure, I am really curious what it could be. Is it part of LBN-438? Could it be even an Herbig Haro object? I really don't know, but I'd love to hear y'alls oppnions on it. Sadly my telescope is not big enough to really give a good view on it. But please, if someone here with a bigger telescope decides to shoot this structure, let me know. I am very interested in seeing your results!!

Img 1: Closeup of the mentioned "Jet"-like structure above LBN-438. Starless H-alpha channel, otherwise unprocessed. 

The H-alpha channel however was not the only feature in this image which had surprises in stock after the stacking was done. In the background of all the dust, I could count several dozens of galaxies, in depth and detail unparalleled to what I have ever been able to observe with my telescope in the past. I was truely amazed, how many details I could pull out of these galaxies, despite only having 6 inches of aperture!! I guess going the extra step in data acquisition goes a long way in terms of details. In Img 2, I showcase some of the more interesting galaxies I could find in the image!

Img 2: Collage of the most prominent galaxies. Plenty more to discover in the full image