Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.)  Captured at 3.5 arcsec/pixel.  The Zoomify image scale is 7.0 to 18.2 arcsec / pixel.

Mount

Paramount ME

Camera

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

Acquisition Data

8/18/2008 to 9/7/2008 Chino Valley, AZ... with CCDAutoPilot3 & CCDSoft.

Exposure

Hα    240 min. (8 x 30 min. bin 1x1)
OIII  180 min. (6 x 30 min. bin 1x1)

Click here for the narrowband color mapped version.
Click here for an Ha filtered b/w version.

Software

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

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

• PhotoShop for the color combine &  on-linear stretching.

North is to the top.
This synthetic RGB color image was acquired with Ha and OIII filters. Ha was mapped to the red channel and the OIII to both green and blue. The Veil nebula is especially suitable for creating this type of simulated "true" color image.

To the left is the Eastern Veil, or NGC 6992. In the center is Pickering's Triangle. To the right, is the Witch's Broom Nebula, or NGC 6960.

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These wisps of gas are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. Many thousands of years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon toward the constellation of Cygnus, visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. The remaining supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years away and covers over five times the size of the full Moon. The bright wisp on the right is known as the Witch's Broom Nebula and can be seen with a small telescope. The Veil Nebula is also known as the Cygnus Loop.
Source: NASA APOD