The often-photographed (certainly by me) area of the North America Nebula, NGC 7000, near the bright star Deneb, which is in the frame at right, in Cygnus. The Pelican Nebula, IC 5067/70 is right of the North America, in the “Atlantic Ocean” so to speak. The nebulosity at bottom is the “Cygnus Arc,” IC 5068. The small patch of blue reflection nebulosity at top is IC 5076. The patches of dark nebulosity above the North America Nebula are B352 and B356. This is a stack and blend of: four exposures without a filter, each 8 minutes at ISO 800, and four exposures with an Optolong L-Enhance nebula filter to bring out the faintest nebulosity, each 16 minutes at ISO 1600. These are blended in with a Lighten mode. All were with the William Optics RedCat 51mm astrographic refractor at its native f/5 and Canon EOS Ra camera, the factory filter-modified camera capable of recording this type of hydrogen-alpha emitting nebulas. Guided with the ZWO ASIAir and ASI120MM guide camera, on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. Taken from home on a perfect summer night on August 15, 2020.
Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020 from the Columbia Icefields (Jasper National Park, Alberta) from the Toe of the Glacier parking lot, looking north over Sunwapta Lake, formed by the summer meltwater of Athabasca Glacier. So this is a portrait of ice in the sky and icy water on Earth. This was my parting shot of the comet, as it was fading rapidly at this time receding from Earth, though it was still naked eye. Plus the waxing Moon was going to be lighting the sky much more in the following week. So this was the night! While it was pale to the eye, the long expposure of the camera did pick up the blue ion and white dust tails very well. The ion tail extends about 15° and the dust tail at least 10°. The tails are certainly more prominent than in 99% of any comets we see any given year! So this was still a nice comet! Red and green bands of airglow, some faint magenta aurora on the horizon, and some lingering blue perpetual twilight at his northern latitude all tint the sky. The Big Dipper stars are at top. Arcturus is at far left. The orange star at bottom is Tania Australis, here made a little larger by it shining through some thin haze. This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 4-minute untracked exposures for the ground, with 4 x 2-minute tracked and stacked exposures for the sky. Stacking the images smooths noise. Tracking the sky prevents star trailing in the long exposures required to reveal the faintest stars and the subtle comet tails. The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 24mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600 for the ground and ISO 3200 for the sky. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground; Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night. The foreground is lit in part by lights from the Icefields Centre buildings off camera to the right.
Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020, at right, over the Columbia Icefields with the Moon still lighting the peaks in a warm “bronze hour” light for a lunar alpenglow. The Moon is behind Snowdome Peak at centre and is also still lighting the sky a deep blue. The Milky Way is at left over Mount Andromeda. Arcturus is the bright star at top centre. This was more or less my parting shot of the comet, as it was fading rapidly at this time receding from Earth, though it was still naked eye. Plus the waxing Moon was going to be lighting the sky much more in the following week. So this was the night! Shooting a week earlier when the comet was brighter and larger would have been nice, but clouds would have got in the way. This was shot during a run of unusually clear nights at the Icefields, the first good clear nights according to the locals. I shot this during the brief “bronze hour” interval immediately after the Moon had disappeared behind Snowdome but was still lighting the peaks. So to be clear — the peaks are lit by the setting Moon, not by the Sun. This is not a composite of day and night shots; it is a well-timed and planned panorama shot as quickly as possible over a few minutes before the lighting changed. Lingering twilight lights the horizon down the Sunwapta Valley at right. The famous Athabasca Glacier is just left of centre; Snowdome Glacier is right of centre, with the glacial Sunwapta Lake in the foreground. Mount Athabasca is at far left with its glacier. This is a 17-segment (!) panorama with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.5 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600, for 20 seconds each, untracked. The overlap was more than is normally needed but the segments stitched perfectly with Adobe Camera Raw, which is not always the case with such scenes. LENR employed on all segments when shooting on this warm night. Dodging and burning applied to accentuate highlights and shadows. Topaz Sharpen AI applied. The original is over 27,000 pixels wide.
