Acquired the night of May 30, 2014 from Lake Sonoma, CA. The spring/summer nights are quite short here in Northern CA, so I only captured Luminance data. Exposures - 33 x 10m sub-exposures in L total exposure time: ~5.5 hours Main Camera: QSI 583 WSG Guide Camera: SX Lodestar (on OAG) Mount: Astro-Physics Mach 1 Scope: Celestron Edge HD 8" (FL: 2032mm) Adaptive Optics Unit: SXV-AO-LF Image Aquisition software MaximDL Registed, Calibrated, Stacked and Post Processed with PixInsight 1.8 The Iris Nebula, also catalogued as NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158. It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across [Description from wikipedia]
A black and white rendition of the so-called "flaming star nebula" - also known as Sharpless 2-209 - an Hydrogen alpha rich emission region in the constellation of Auriga. According to the wikipedia entry, this nebula is only 1500 light years away. Re-processed to emphasize the 3-D appearance of the nebula. As always, I welcome comments and constructive criticism. Exposures - 25 x 30m subs in Ha (5nm) total exposure time: 12.5 hours Main Camera: QSI 583 WSG Guide Camera: SXV Lodestar (on OAG) Mount: Astro-Physics Mach 1 Scope: Explore Scientific 102 ED f/7 (FL: 700mm) Image Aquisition software MaximDL Registed, Calibrated and Stacked in MaximDL Post Processed with PixInsight 1.8 and Photoshop CS6