Discovered as recently as 2011 by French astronomer Nicolas Outters, is the very faint OIII emission nebula Ou4.  Located in the constellation of Cepheus , this somewhat elusive object requires very long exposures and integration time to successfully image.  For obvious reasons Ou4 has become known more commonly as the Giant Squid Nebula and belongs to the difficult but must-do objects list of astrophotographers.  Moreover, the Squid lies within the much larger SH2-129 HII emission region or the Flying Bat Nebula, only part of which is shown here.  In this case some 40-hours of exposure, of which the Squid is 15-hours, combined with careful processing has produced a wonderful image of both these exciting objects.

Initially considered to be a Planetary Nebula, Ou4 is now thought to be a bipolar outflow that was discharged 90,000 years ago from the hot massive triple star system HR 8119 situated within the Sh 2-129 HII-region, which is also responsible for ionizing the red emission nebula itself.  The Squid consists of two collimated lobes with arc-shaped tips of enhanced OIII emission that resemble bow-shocks seen in stellar outflows and a few bubbles and filamentary arcs. The bipolar Ou4 lobes measure some 50×8 light-years, which though faint forms one of astrophotography’s great spectacles.