I will never get tired of this part of the sky.

From my latitude, this part of Cygnus passes through the zenith. The bright star toward the left is Deneb, and the one toward the center is Sadr. All of the pink/red areas are hydrogen gas that is ionized by nearby, extremely hot stars. At the center, near Sadr, is the Butterfly Nebula (IC 1318). I did a 24 panel mosaic of this region with my telescope a few years ago -- flic.kr/p/tYxubt
A bit to the right of this region is the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). After I got narrowband filters, I reshot this nebula -- flic.kr/p/2jkujJC
There are so many dark nebula in this region as well. Above and to the right of Sadr is Barnard 343 -- flic.kr/p/2jp2keu
Below and to the right of Sadr is the only Messier object in this view, star cluster M29: flic.kr/p/2oKsPf3

At the left, below Deneb, is the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and 5070) just to its right. I haven't done a detailed study of this object yet.

Toward the right edge of the image is the Tulip Nebula (Sh2 - 101). I have a monochrome image of this using an H-alpha filter -- flic.kr/p/2mcJ4iK and I took additional color data later: flic.kr/p/2oRBCTS

This image is a stack of 37 40 s exposures taken with a Nikon D5100 at ISO 6400 and a focal length of 70 mm. This camera was modified for astrophotography to register the light from emission nebulae better. The camera was on an omegon Minitrack LX2 for tracking. Images were calibrated, stacked, and initially processed in PixInsight. Final touches in Photoshop.

Tags:   stars space astronomy cosmos nebulae Deneb Sadr Butterfly Nebula North America Nebula Pelican Nebula Crescent Nebula Tulip Nebula Nikon D5100 NGC 6888 NGC 7000 IC 5070 IC 1318 Sh2-101 B343 emission nebulae dark nebulae dark molecular clouds Milky Way

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I added green and blue channels later for a color image of this region: flic.kr/p/2oRBCTS

This emission nebula lies along the neck of Cygnus, near the star η Cyg. This region of ionized hydrogen is forming new stars. As the energy from those new stars is pumped into the surrounding gas, electrons are stripped off the hydrogen. Due the opposite charges of electrons and protons, the particles recombine, and some of the radiation that is produced is at a characteristic wavelength of 656.28 nm. A filter to allow this light through was used to make this image.

One other object to note in this image - look along the right edge, about two-thirds of the way down. Almost at the edge of the image. There are two stars, one above the other, that stand out (to the right of the bottom of the nebula). The star on the bottom appears in X-rays as Cygnus X-1 -- the first candidate for a system that has a black hole. Further studies have shown there is a 21 solar mass blue supergiant star and a 15 solar mass black hole in orbit around each other. The period of their mutual orbit is 5.6 days. This system is also known a a microquasar, as it has the same spectral characteristics as a quasar, but with much lower mass.

This is a stack of 50 3 min exposures with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with Hyperstar and an Atik 414-EX camera and Atik 7nm H-alpha filter. Subframes were pre-processed in Nebulosity, then registred and stacked in PixInsight. The final image was produced with more work in PixInsight.

Tags:   stars space nebula cosmos astronomy astrophoto astrophotography Tulip Nebula emission nebula H II region Cygnus X-1 black hole

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There are almost too many deep sky objects in this 27° x 18° portion of the constellation Cygnus. The bright star to the left of center is Deneb, the tail of the swan. Sadr, the heart of the swan, is just above center. These stars are bright enough to see from nearly any sky. Aljanah (ε Cygni) is the eastern wing and can be seen as the bright star in the bottom of the image, toward the right.

For most of the other stars, you need darker skies. For the thousands upon thousands of stars that make up the background, you'll need to get away from city lights entirely to see as the brightest glow of the northern Milky Way. Many dark nebulae - or dark molecular clouds - are also visible cutting across this image. These are regions where new stars will form (or have formed) to add their light to our view of our galaxy.

Another good use for this image is choosing larger deep sky targets if you are getting into astrophotography. The easiest target of this sort to go for is the part of the North America Nebula that would be Mexico on a map -- also known as the Cygnus Wall. Of all the emission nebulae in this image (all the reddish areas), this is the easiest target and can be captured with the shortest exposure. The rest of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) will take a bit longer but is still a good target to start with. Immediately west of it is the Pelican Nebula, which is a more difficult target. Around Sadr, you find IC 1318. Part of this is the Butterfly Nebula, just below Sadr in this image. This would be the easiest portion to capture. The rest of the complex is something I have shot with 4 minute exposures at f/2.3 with a 9.25" scope and one-shot color CCD. There's plenty of good dark nebulae and star clusters in both regions.

Another common target is barely visible along the bottom edge, toward the right. That is the Veil Nebula or the Cygnus Loop. I didn't know before I shot this that the eastern part of the loop (NGC 6992 and 6995) is brighter than the western part. The western part, also known as the Witch's Broom Nebula or NGC 6960, is located north and south of the star 52 Cygni. I need 5 minute exposures with my scope to get NGC 6960 with any detail. It also helps that this part of the sky passes overhead for most of the United States.

This is a stack of 18 150s exposures shot at ISO 3200 with a Nikon D80 at a focal length of 53.2 mm. Images were preprocessed and stacked in PixInsight, where initial processing also happened. Final touches - especially to bring out the nebulae - were done in Photoshop. If you are just getting into astrophotography, I highly recommend you explore this region.

North is toward the top left corner in this image, and east is toward the bottom left

Tags:   Cygnus Deneb Sadr Aljanah Swan Milky Way dark molecular clouds dark nebulae stars space astronomy star clusters open clusters North America Nebula Pelican Nebula Butterfly Nebula Veil Nebula NGC 7000 IC 1318 NGC 6960 NGC 6992 NGC 6995 IC 5070 M29 M39 supernova remnant

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I used a stack of 13 4 minute exposures for the RGB component, and a stack of 20 3 minute hydrogen-alpha exposures as an enhancement for the red channel. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I was shooting emission nebulae without the Hα layer - the amount of detail it brings out is pretty incredible.

We're all waiting for the next supernova in the Milky Way. It's been centuries since the last one visible to the naked eye (unless you count 1987A - but that wasn't in the Milky Way). We've all read about Betelgeuse and Antares, but the star at the center of the Crescent Nebula, WR 136, is a lot closer to exploding than either of those red supergiants. The gas you see is the former outer layers of the star, meaning it has already passed through its red supergiant stage. WR 136 is a Wolf-Rayet star, and it is very near the end. Maybe it won't appear in the sky in our lifetimes, but at some point, this star that has already shed its hydrogen envelope will brighten by an enormous factor as its core collapses and blasts the remaining outer layers of the star into space.

Telescope: Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with HyperStar
Cameras: RGB shot with an ATik 314L+ from the dark skies of Mt. Pinos
Hα shot with an Atik 414-EX and Atik Hα filter from my light polluted backyard
Preprocessing in Nebulosity; stacking, channel combination, and processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop

Tags:   space astronomy cosmos stars emission nebula Crescent Nebula NGC 6888 WR136 Wolf-Rayet star

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Located just to the west of the star Sadr (γ Cyg) is this dark nebula. It appears in front of the emission nebula IC 1318. This revisits data I originally presented in a significantly larger mosaic - flic.kr/p/tYxubt

This is a mosaic of four panels that were originally shot as RGB images with an Atik 314L+ color camera. Later, hydrogen-alpha data was added to each panel with an Atik 414-EX and Hα filter. All frames taken with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with HyperStar. Images were preprocessed in Nebulosity. Frames were registered and stacked in PixInsight where the R channel was enhanced with Hα. The panels were combined into a mosaic in PixInsight, with final touches in Photoshop.

Tags:   space astronomy cosmos Milky Way Cygnus B343 Barnard 343 dark nebula dark molecular cloud IC 1318 emission nebula HII region Sadr

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