North American and Pelican Nebula Picture
Narrowband Astrophotography Image
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North American and Pelican Nebula: Narrowband Image

From the Wiki Article: The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The remarkable shape of the emission nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico.

Check out my close-up RGB/Narrowband blend of the Pelican Nebula here.  Other narrowband pictures with this combination, and more info, are at this link.  Other astronomy pictures from the Fall 2011 trip are here.

Processing Details:  Image Details: 6.25 hours total exposure, consisting of 39*5 Ha frames and 36*5 O3 frames with the SBIG ST-8300m (monochrome) CCD camera with the FW8-8300 filter wheel, Astrodon narrowband 36mm filters, and the Takahashi FSQ-85 telescope with reducer,  AP 900GTO mount.  The Ha frames compose the red channel, with the O3 frames making the blue and green channels, followed by subjective adjustments in Photoshop CS5.  Star shrinking using Noel Carboni's actions.


Click here to see the Pelican Nebula Area: 10.5 Hours RGB + Narrowband

Wider DSLR Image: North American Nebula Area


North American & Pelican Nebula Area in H-alpha

Above: 39 * 5 min = 3.25 hours exposure from the Davis Mountains.  This is the H-alpha component of the image at the top of the page.


North American Nebula, Pelican Nebula: Blue Blend

The above image has the H-alpha data mapped to blue, the O3 data mapped to red & green, and the H-alpha blended into luminosity.  Add some Photoshop tweaking and this is what I get!

 


North American Nebula


North American & Pelican Nebula.  See Notes Below.

Notes on Above: previous effort using film.  This one is a pretty red! Stack of 2 Photos:
10/23/03, 40 minutes, Wimberly, TX,
at the Starry Nights Bed and Breakfast
 10/18/03, 30 minutes, NHAC "Sammy Neal" Observing site, Dolen, TX
Takahashi FS-102 telescope, prime focus with reducer at 610mm focal length, f5.9

SBIG STV autoguider using Celestron ST-80 guidescop
e
Losmandy GM-11 mount
Kodak LE 400 film, OM1n camera
Negative Scan, Nikon Coolscan IV ED, Processed in Photoshop

 Gamma Cygni (In the Cygnus neighborhood)

 

North American Nebula Area - wider

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Astronomy Pictures: Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page....

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North American & Pelican Nebulae - Film image from 2003

A beautiful night for astrophotography... You get a handful of these a year in the Houston area, really.  Outstanding transparency with very good seeing.  The STV autoguider was averaging about .5 arc second corrections.  I've tried to get a good shot of this through the scope many times, but always something went wrong (the last couple of times it was bad polar alignment).  Got it right this time!  Now to take a few more to stack.


Above: NHAC "Sammy Neal" Observing site, 10/18/03
30 minute exposure (just one, not a stack)
Tak FS-102 prime focus with reducer at 610mm focal length, f5.9

SBIG STV autoguider using Celestron ST-80 guidescop
e
Losmandy GM-11 mount
Kodak LE 400 film, OM1n camera
Negative Scan, Nikon Coolscan IV ED, Processed in Photoshop


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Cygnus Area Astrophotography Index

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