Instrument

12.5" RCOS @  ~f/9 (2880 mm fl) 0.64 arcsec / pixel.  The Zoomify image scale is 1.28 to 3.32 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

SBIG STL-11000 w/ internal filter wheel, AstroDon Gen I Filters

Acquisition Data

8/05/2010 to 8/10/2010 Chino Valley, AZ... with CCDAutoPilot3 & CCDSoft.  AOL guided

Exposure

Lum (no filter) 405 min (27 x 15 min, bin 1x1)

RGB               225 min ( 5 x 15 min each, bin 2x2)

Software

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

• eXcalibrator for (b-v), (v-r) color calibration, using 7 stars from the NOMAD1 database. 

• PixFix32 (pre-beta) to repair column defects.

• CCDStack to calibrate, register, normalize, data reject, combine the sub exposures and LRGB color.

• PhotoShop for non-linear stretching.

North is to the top.

 
The Iris Nebula is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus, at a distance of about 1,300 light-years. The nebula, LBN 487, surrounds the star cluster NGC 7023. LBN 487 is primarily illuminated by SAO 19158, a hot bluish magnitude 7 star. The characteristic blue color, of the Iris, is a result of blue light being more efficiently scattered by the dust.