Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.)  Captured at 3.5 arcsec/pixel.  Shown resampled to 18.2 arcsec/pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon 6nm Filters

Acquisition Data

7/28/2008 to 7/31/2008 Chino Valley... with CCDAutoPilot3

Exposure

OIII  180 min.  (12 x 15 min. bin 2x2)

Hα    360 min.  (24 x 15 min. bin 1x1)
 

Hα was used for the red channel and OIII for the blue.  The green was synthesized with Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools.

Software

CCDSoft, CCDStack, Photoshop CS w/ the Fits Liberator plugin and Noel Carboni's actions.

CCDStack to calibrate, register, normalize, data reject & combine.

PhotoShop for non-linear stretching and the color combine.

North is to the bottom... I think it looks better up side down.

Sprawling across hundreds of light-years, emission nebula IC 1396 mixes glowing cosmic gas and dark dust clouds. Stars are forming in this area, only about 3,000 light-years from Earth.
Source:  NASA APOD