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Sadr Region (IC1318 or Gamma Cygni Nebula)

More narrowband: Dumbbell Nebula, Cocoon Nebula and Sadr Region

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More narrowband: Dumbbell Nebula, Cocoon Nebula and Sadr Region

Less than 1 minute Minutes
The last few days of July 2022 I had several consecutive clear nights, and I imaged multiple targets, including two emission nebulae (Cocoon Nebula and the Sadr Region) and one of my favorite planetary nebulae (the Dumbbell Nebula – M27).
 
I made some tweaks to enhance my imaging routine:
  • I added the Celestron PWI (CPWI) Telescope Control Software for the initial alignment of my equatorial mount and to connect the mount to the imaging software (NINA) and the guiding software (PHD2);
  • I installed NoiseXTerminator, a plugin for PixInsight that, thanks to AI technology, removes background noise from images without affecting stars or DSO. Considering that the total integration time for each image was less than 1 hour, I was quite impressed by the final results.
 
Date: 2022-07-28 and 29
Location: Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO (cooled at -10°C)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm mini + ZWO ASI224MC + PHD2
Software:

Total integration time: 15 to 30 minutes (5-10x180sec.), dark, flat, bias
The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) imaged on July 28, 2022. Total integration time: 30 minutes (10×180 sec.), dark, flat, bias.
I was able to capture the outermost layers of this beautiful planetary nebula.
M27 (2022-07-28)
The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146, or also Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125, Barnard 168) is an emission / reflection nebula in constellation Cygnus. It’s a stellar nursery where hundreds stars are forming. Its distance is 3,260 light years.
 
Date: 2022-07-28
Total integration time: 15 minutes (5×180 sec.), dark, flat, bias.
Cocoon Nebula (IC1546)
The Sadr Region (IC 1318 or Gamma Cygni Nebula) is a diffuse emission nebula surrounding the star Gamma Cygni (Sadr), located in the heart of Cygnus’s cross and with a magnitude of 2.2. Sadr is approximately 1,800 light years distant, while the nebula is much further away, at 4,900 light years.
 
Date: 2022-07-29
Total integration time: 30 minutes (10×180 sec.), dark, flat, bias.
Sadr Region (IC1318 or Gamma Cygni Nebula)
NGC7000 integration (starless)

The North America Nebula with (and without) stars

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The North America Nebula with (and without) stars

Less than 1 minute Minutes

July 9th, 2022: great imaging session with the North America Nebula and the Pelican Nebula in Cygnus. With the ZWO EAF firmware upgrade I was also able to dramatically improve the autofocus routine.

In the next paragraphs I would like to guide you through my setup and the image acquisition process for these targets. 

  1. I started my session at 9:30pm EDT by setting up the telescope, the mount, cables, guiding scope, imaging camera and filters. I found a sweet spot on my driveway, where the sky is free from obstacles to the North, East and South. There is light pollution because of the street lamps, but my objective was to capture my targets with a narrowband filter (the Optolong l-Extreme), which has narrow 7nm band passes in the Hydrogen alpha (Ha) and Oxygen III (OIII) lines only, and blocks the light pollution.
  2. Second, I balanced the mount and the telescope and turned on my laptop and launched Remote Desktop, to control my mini PC, where the acquisition software (NINA) is running.
  3. I roughly polar aligned my telescope, turned on my mount and performed a quick align procedure (no need to perform a 2 star alignment, as I polar aligned the mount and “plate solved” my imaging targets later on).
  4. I connected all my equipment: camera, manual filter wheel, focuser, mount, guider. I also told NINA to cool my imaging camera to -10°C.
  5. Next, I launched the autofocus routine (and after the firmware upgrade it worked like a charm!)

    Autofocusing routine
    After the ZWO EAF electronic focuser firmware update, NINA Autofocus routine returned an almost perfect hyperbole (as you can see on the right side of this image)
  6. I polar aligned my mount with the “Three Point Polar Alignment” NINA plugin (and the help of my neighbour, who was reading the error values while I was ), which led me to an accuracy consistently under 1 arcsecond during the guiding with PHD2.
  7. Next, I slewed the scope to my first target: the Cygnus Wall (part of the North America Nebula, NGC7000).
  8. I told PHD2 to perform a mount calibration and to start guiding
    Guiding looks good (with a total RMS error of 0.82")
    Guiding looks good (with a total RMS error of 0.82″)
  9. Next step, I launched an imaging sequence with NINA: 30×180 seconds exposures (with dithering every 3 images).
  10. At the end of the session, I took 20 flat frames (they are essentials to remove uneven illumination and dust spots from the images).
  11. Finally, I stacked and processed the images with PixInsight (below you can see the result of my effort)

When the first image appeared on the screen of my laptop I had a aha moment and immediately realized that the imaging session would have been above my expectations.

A screenshot of the North America Nebula (NGC7000) in constellation Cygnus.
A screenshot of my first image of the North America Nebula (NGC7000) in constellation Cygnus.

Setup

Scope: Explore Scientific ED80CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX mount
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533 MC PRO (cooled at -10°C)
Filters: Optolong L-Extreme
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224 MC with a IR Cut filter, PHD2
Guide Scope: Orion Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Software: NINA, PixInsight
Total Integration Time: 1 hour (20x180s, dark, flat, bias)

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) in Cygnus constellation is a bright emission nebula, close to Deneb (the brightest star in Cygnus).

For the first time, while processing and stacking the images I used the Starnet v2 module for PixInsight and I created a “starless” image. I think that Starnet is a cool add-on which can increase the details of nebulae.

Note: Scroll the slider to switch between the images of the North America Nebula with the stars and its starless version.

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the stars and in its "starless" versionThe North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the stars and in its "starless" version

The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067) is an HII region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The image is the result of 30 minutes exposure (10×180 seconds, dark, flat, bias).

Note: Scroll the slider to switch between the images of the Pelican Nebula Nebula with the stars and its starless version.

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the stars and in its "starless" versionThe North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the stars and in its "starless" version
Crescent Nebula (NGC6888)

The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus

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The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus

Less than 1 minute Minutes
I imaged the Crescent Nebula, a beautiful emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus.
 
From Wikipedia: The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth, which was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.
 
The weather was good (although some high clouds were disturbing the acquisition of the images) and the guiding was acceptable. Considering that I was able to collect a total of only 1 hour data (which I processed with PixInsight), I am quite satisfied with the result.
 
Date: 2022-06-22
Location: Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO (cooled at -10°C)
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm mini + ZWO ASI224MC + PHD2
Software: NINA, PixInsight, GIMP
Total integration time: 60 minutes (20x180sec.), dark, flat, bias
Crescent Nebula (NGC6888)
M8 (Lagoon Nebula)

I imaged the Lagoon Nebula

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I imaged the Lagoon Nebula

Less than 1 minute Minutes
M8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula, is a star-forming cloud of interstellar gas located in Sagittarius. Its distance is 5,200 light-years.
With this image of M8 taken on 2022-06-04 I will start sharing images of summer targets. More to come!
 
Date: 2022-06-04
Location: Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm mini + ZWO ASI224MC + PHD2
Software: NINA, PixInsight, GIMP
Total integration time: 15 minutes (5x180sec.), dark, flat, bias
M8 (Lagoon Nebula)
Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992)

I imaged a beautiful supernova remnant

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I imaged a beautiful supernova remnant

Less than 1 minute Minutes
What an amazing night under the stars!
On the night of June 2, 2022 the sky was clear and I sailed through supernova remnants and globular clusters, until 3:30 AM!
 
My main target for the night was the Eastern Veil Nebula in Cygnus (NGC 6992), which is part of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant. The supernova was a star 10-20 times more massive than our Sun, which exploded between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. At the time of explosion, the supernova would have appeared brighter than Venus in the sky, and visible in daytime!
To capture this image I used the Optolong L-Extreme filter. This fantastic narrowband filter isolates the H-Alpha and Oxygen III emission lines while reducing the light pollution and increasing the contrast.
 
Date: 2022-06-02 – 2022-06-03
Location: Richmond Hill (ON)
Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED CF APO refractor
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC PRO
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Filter: Optolong L-Extreme
Guide Scope: Orion 50mm mini + ZWO ASI224MC + PHD2
Software: NINA, PixInsight, GIMP
Total integration time: 15 minutes (5x180sec.), dark, flat, bias
Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992)
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