This area in Cygnus that contains the circular Cocoon Nebula, aka IC 5146, located at the end of the long dark nebula called the Dark Cigar but officially is Barnard 168. The nebulas are flanked by two open star clusters: NGC 7209 at far left just over the border in Lacerta, and Messier 39 at far right. NGC 7209 barely stands out amid the rich starfield here, just below an orange star, while M39 is bright but sparse at right. The clusters and dark nebula stand out well in binoculars but the Cocoon Nebula is a challenge to see in telescopes. This is a stack of 6 x 6-minute exposures with the William Optics RedCat 51mm astrographic refractor at f/5 and the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800 with LENR on as it was the warmest night of the summer, August 18, 2020. Aligned, stacked and median combined in Photoshop to eliminate some satellite trails. Autoguided with the ZWO ASIAir and ASI120MM guide camera with the RedCat on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. No filters employed here.
This is Comet Hartley 2 as it appeared on the night of October 9/10, 2010 as it travelled through Perseus. The comet is the cyan glow at left, wth the Double Cluster at lower right and the complex of red nebulosity of IC 1848 / IC 1805 / IC 1795 at top. Technical: This is a stack of 5 x 2.5 minute exposures at ISO 1600 with Canon 5D MkII on 135mm L-series telephoto lens at f/3.2. Tracked the sky on Kenko SkyMemo tracking platform to follow the stars.
The Cygnus and Lyra area of the northern summer Milky Way, including the original Kepler FIeld. Deneb is at left, Vega at right. This is a stack of 5 x 10 minute exposures with the Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8 and filter-modified Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 800. Taken as test of the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer tracking platform.
