In 1959 U.S. astronomer Stewart Sharpless published a catalog of 312 Hydrogen-II emission nebulae. This is number 112, a faint nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5,500 light years from us. Radiation from star +45 3216 – about 30 times the size of the Sun – ionizes the hydrogen gas, causing it to glow. This nebula is near the plane of the Milky Way in a vast region of hydrogen. I processed the image to show this faint surrounding red ionized gas.
| Exposure |
• 13 hours (78 X 10 minutes) @ -15°C ☞ 25 full color ☞ 53 with Hα filter • Dusk flats • Camera position angle: 0° |
| Processing |
• With PixInsight: ☞ Calibrate, star-align, integrate subframes ☞ Histogram transformation ☞ TGV Denoise, Curves • Final tweaking and sizing in Photoshop CS6 |
| Date and Location |
• 2022: June 25 & 27, July 3 • Louisa County, Virginia, USA |
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Equipment |
• TMB-130SS APO refractor @ f/7 on an A-P 1200 mount • ZWO ASI-1600MC Pro color camera • Guided with a ZWO ASI-120M camera on a 60mm f/5 scope • Imaging and autoguiding with MaxIm DL 6.20 • Automated image acquisition with ACP Observatory Control |
Updated March 20, 2024