This wide-field image frames the main stars of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs — Cor Caroli at bottom, and Chara at right of centre — and to also include in the frame the red star La Superba, aka Y Canum Venaticorum at top. Also in the field are the galaxies M94 below centre, M63 the Sunflower Galaxy at left, and NGC 4490 the Cocoon Galaxy at right above Chara. They are small on this image scale but the image serves for a finder chart illustration of the location of these galaxies relative to the stars of Canes Venatici, and the location of Y Can Ven. The red star La Superba was given its name by Fr. Angelo Secchi, and is one of the best examples of a red carbon star. It is one of the reddest stars in the sky. The field is 10° x 15°, so wider than binoculars. Cor Caroli is a double star but is not resolved at this scale. This is a stack of 8 x 1-minute exposures with the Canon EF 135mm lens stopped down to f/2.8 (thus the diffraction spikes on the stars) on the Canon Ra at ISO 1600, all on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
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.
