The Large Magellanic Cloud, LMC, embedded in high haze adding the glow effect, accentuating star colours. To the left of centre is NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula complex. This is a stack of 4 x 8 minute exposures at f/4 with the Borg 77mm astrograph (300mm focal length) and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800. Taken from Coonabarabran, Australia, March 2014.
The area of northern Cygnus, showing the dark nebula known as LeGentil 3 north of Cygnus in the Milky Way, along with the bright emission nebulas of the North America Nebula and the Pelican Nebula near Deneb. This is a stack of ten 5-minute exposures at f/2.8 with the 135mm Canon L-series telephoto and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII camera at ISO 1600, tracked on the Kenko SkyMemo tracker with no guiding. Taken at the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party, August 16, 2012.
The colourful but obscure area in the Cepheus Milky Way that contains the Lion Nebula (at bottom), a region emitting both red Hydrogen-alpha light and cyan Oxygen III light. It is a nebula that only recently became popular as an astrophoto target, perhaps because of its new nickname and from the use of narrowband filters to bring it out. It is not in the popular Messier, NGC or IC catalogues but is officially labeled as Sharpless 2-132. Meanwhile at top, the brightest nebula is the even more obscure Sharpless 2-135, alongside a very faint band of nebulosity that might not have a catalogue number — I couldn't find one! The nebulosity at top is a deeper red than the Lion Nebula, as the top area of sky contains more dark dust absorbing and reddening the nebulosity and also decreasing the star density and yellowing the sky compared to the richer, brighter and bluer region at bottom to the south around the Lion. There is a very small (like a fuzzy red star) planetary nebula just right of centre called the Little Ring Nebula, or M2-51, from the Minkowski catalogue. Another tiny planetary in the extreme lower left corner is Abell 79. The field of view here is 5° by 3.3°, with north up. The star at upper left is the famous variable and double star Delta Cephei. The yellow star at right is Zeta Cephei. This is a stack of 48 sub-frames taken over two nights, all with the SharpStar 94mm EDPH refractor at f/4.4 and the Canon Ra camera: - A stack of 16 x 8-minute exposures with a "clear" filter, an Astronomik UV/IR cut filter at ISO 800 - A stack of 16 x 12-minute exposures through an IDAS NB1 dual-narrowband filter at ISO 1600 - A stack of 16 x 16-minute exposures through an IDAS NBX dual ultra-narrowband filter at ISO 1600. This set was shot on night #2 as there was not enough time to shoot it on the same night at the other sets. The clear filter set contributes the sky background and natural star colours. The NB1 filter set contributes most of the red H-alpha component, while the "extreme" NBX filter contributes mostly the cyan OIII emission which the Lion Nebula has in abundance, somewhat unusually for an emission nebula. All stacked, aligned, merged and masked in Photoshop 2021. Luminosity masks with Lumenzia helped bring out the faint nebulosity. Taken from home. Autoguided with the MGEN3 autoguider applying a dithering move between each exposure average out thermal noise when aligning and stacking. No LENR or dark frames were employed on this frosty night! At one point late on night 2 the little guidescope frosted over as the guide star was lost. Hair dryer to the rescue!
