Image of Northwestern Cygnus, 8 panel mosaic, HaOIIIRGB
HaOIIIRGB mapped to full color image. Click here or on the image above for full-size, 8500x5475px (10.2 MB)
Annotated Image of Northwestern Cygnus, 8 panel mosaic, HaOIIIRGB
HaOIIIRGB mapped to full color image with many annotations of stars and deep sky objects. Click here or on the image above for full-size, 8500x5475px (5.2 MB)

Northwestern Cygnus

Object DWB 111; LBN 325; LBN 331; SNR G 82.2+5.3; NGC 6866; NGC 6884; PN PM1-320; B 345; 30 Cygni; 31 Cygni; 32 Cygni; KIC 8462852; LBN 272; LBN 260; LBN 264; DWB 146; DWB 168; DWB 170; LDN 913; LDN 905; LDN 903
Description This region of Cygnus west of Deneb is anchored by the bright and colorful stars 30 and 31 Cygni. There are many types of interesting and overlapping nebulae in this region including many HII regions catalogued by Dickel, Wendker, and Bieritz, as well as more recent discoveries such as the giant supernova remnant known as G 82.2+5.3 and the much smaller possible planetary nebula PN PM 1-320. This was my most challenging photo yet with more than 46 hours of integration, and the time-consuming process of creating a seamless 8 panel mosaic.
Acknowledgments Thank you: My neighbor Rachel David for being my excellent assistant and "second in command" throughout the summer. Sharon Huss Roat, the Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory, and Frank Colosimo (Blue Mountain Vista) for allowing me to capture many hours of this mosaic away from the streetlights of Newark. The Delaware Astronomical Society's Astrophotography Special Interest Group for all the advice and support. My friends Andrew and Kurt for their feedback on my work-in-progress. And Maggie Thrash for supporting me in all things.
Rights Statement This image is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). If you use this image elsewhere, you must provide an attribution (credit line) like this:
Northwestern Cygnus by is licensed under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licesnse.
Acquisition Dates June 24, 2018, June 29, 2018, July 2, 2018, July 3, 2018, July 7, 2018, July 9, 2018, July 11, 2018, July 26, 2018, July 27, 2018, Aug. 3, 2018, Aug. 4, 2018, Aug. 6, 2018, Aug. 10, 2018, Aug. 30, 2018, Oct. 13, 2018, Oct. 18, 2018, Oct. 29, 2018, Nov. 8, 2018, Nov. 11, 2018, Nov. 12, 2018, Nov. 13, 2018
Date Published 2018-11-26
Locations Mostly Backyard, Newark, DE. Some RGB and OIII data captured at Sharon Roat's backyard, Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory, and Frank Colosimo's Blue Mt. Vista observing field.
Optics Stellarvue SVQ86
Mount Orion Atlas EQ-G
Camera ZWO ASI-1600 MM-Cool (v3)
Filters Astrodon Ha (5nm), OIII (3nm), RGB (E-series)
Guiding ZWO ASI290MM Mini and Astromania 60mm guidescope
Gain 200 for narrowband, 75 for broadband
Cooling -15C
Integration Total: 46.2 hours; Ha: 186x300"; OIII: 142x600"; R: 142x60", G: 142x60"; B: 143x60"
Software Mount Control: EQMOD; Planetarium: Cartes Du Ciel; Acuisition: Sequence Generator Pro; Guiding: PHD2; Polar Alignment: QHY Polemaster; Processing: PixInsight 1.8.5 and Photoshop CS6
RA/DEC Center 303.660; 45.756
Orientation (E of N) 73.8 degrees
Awards/Publications Astrobin Image of the Day, November 30, 2018; Sky & Telescope, March 2019 issue, pp. 72 and 73
Links Astrobin; WorldWideTelescope
Northwestern Cygnus mosaic in the WorldWideTelescope screenshot