Pelican Nebula or IC 5070 (Fall 2015)

This data includes deeper H-Alpha, OIII, and SII from DSW.  This is a slightly modified Hubble palette.

The bright star just to the right and lower than center is 56 Cygni, a double star the brightest component of which is magnitude 5.07 and type A6V.  56 Cygni is about 134 light years away.  The bright star at upper right is 57 Cygni, 530 light years away and type B5V.  The nebula itself is far in the background at 1800 ±200 light years.  Of course, the nebula has several layers.  The darker parts superimposed on the brighter emission nebulae are closer.  I've always suspected that the rounded ridge on the right with the Loch Ness Monster rising out of it is most near after the dark parts.

Telescope: Deep Sky West FSQ Setup
Camera and Exposure: QSI683wsg (SHO:20+17+16x1800")
Software: Nebulosity, SkySafari, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3, Registar
Location: Deep Sky West Observatory

Pelican Redux

This is the same data as earlier this month, but the color for this image was done in PS CS3. This method gives me more control over the color balance and intensity and makes it easier to make other changes later. I processed this to be closer to the actual strength of the data that I obtained. I believe this resulted in the colors being less grainy and the contrast more vivid. Thanks for looking.

Pelican in Narrowband (9-2010) - Prelim

This is my first full narrowband image with the Orion 120mm achromat at f/4. This is what I think is the most interesting part of the Pelican Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The colors are not what the eye would see. Most of the glowing, ionized gas here emits light that would appear red to our eyes. But here, so that we can more easily see what is going on, glowing hydrogen is colored green, glowing oxygen blue, and glowing sulphur red. Yellow is where red and green glow together. The energetic stars embedded in the nebula energize the gas and set it aglow. North is to the right in this image.

The most interesting part of the nebula is the dark finger that reaches up from the ionization front. At the top of this finger is a relatively small, dense cloud of gas and dust slowing being worn away by radiation from the stars lighting the nebula. Hidden in the cloud, a star is being born. We cannot see the star inside the cloud, but the newly-forming star is shooting jets out to the north and south. The jets are visible in this image. The radiation that makes the gas glow is pushing the jets down to one side. This interesting object is called by scientists Herbig-Haro 555.

This image is the product of just over 10 hours of 7 minute exposures added together. H-alpha (hydrogen) was 45x7', OIII (oxygen) 22x7', and SII (sulphur) 20x7'. The image was taken with the Atik 16 from my backyard over three nights in late September, 2010.

First Light with the Orion 120mm f/5 w/ 0.8 Reducer Achromat Astrograph: A Pelican Preliminary

A few weeks ago I saw advertised on Cloudy Nights an adapter that would allow me to attach my Feathertouch focuser to an Orion 120mm f/5 achromatic refractor. I didn't own one at the time, but it occurred to me that perhaps the WO 0.8x II reducer/flattener that I do own would work with this scope, which has a focal length of 600mm. An f/5 x 0.8 would yield an f/4, and a 120mm f/4 refractor sounds like a honey of an astrograph. It could only be used for narrowband imaging, but that's all I can do when the moon is full, and it's fascinating work, anyway. I made an offer to buy the adapter, then went looking for a used scope. I found one a few days later. With adapter and scope put together, I waited for a clear night. Here we are.

This image is 18x420" through the Orion 120mm f/4 achromat astrograph, with WO 0.8x II reducer/flattener and an Astronomik 12nm Ha filter. The camera was the Atik 16. The image needs a bit more time. I hope to get that tonight, but this is a promising result for a used scope that, with adapter, cost less than $300.