A portrait of the complex of emission nebulas in central Cygnus near the bright star Gamma Cygni (at left). The field includes the IC 1318 complex around Gamma Cygni itself and the Wolf-Rayet arc of nebulosity, NGC 6888, aka the Crescent Nebula, at right. The sparse star cluster Messier 29 is at bottom. This was through the SharpStar 94mm apo refractor at f/4.4 and with the Canon EOS Ra. It is a blend of 6 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 through an Astronomik UV-IR-Cut filter for the base image, and a stack of 4 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through IDAS NB1 and Optolong L-eNhance filters for the enhanced red nebulosity, plus 6 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through Optolong L-eXtreme and IDAS NBZ filters which contribute only the enhanced cyan OIII emission, all taken as part of testing the filters. Normally, using four filters would not be required! Autoguided and dithered on this warm summer night with the Lacerta MGEN3 autoguider. No darks or LENR applied as the dithering effectively eliminated the thermal noise speckling which was prominent on the individual sub-frames. Taken from home August 13, 2021. All stacked, aligned, and blended in Photoshop.
Gamma Velorum (aka Suhail al Muhlif) in Vela and the open cluster NGC 2547, a bright binocular cluster. The field is also rich in faint nebulosity from the Gum Nebula. The field simulates a binocular field. A stack of 4 x 2-minute exposures with the 20mm telephoto at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 2500. Tracked on the AP 400 mount. Shot from Coonabarabran, Australia.
The field of clusters and nebulosity in Gemini, with Messier 35 the main open star clusters here. Below M38 is NGC 2158. The nebulosity at left between Mu and Eta Geminorum is IC 443, a supernova remnant, aka the Jellyfish Nebula. The nebula at bottom is IC 2174, just over the border in Orion and aka the Monkeyhead Nebula. The field is similar to that of binoculars. This is a stack of 10 x 3-minute exposures with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 and 200mm Canon L-Series lens at f/2.8. Some light haze passing through in some exposures added the natural star glows. I left those in as part of the stack to add the glows. Taken with the Fornax Lightrack tracker as part of testing. Taken from home on a rare fine and mild winter night, January 4, 2019. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools.
