The constellation of Cygnus is a very active and interesting region of the Milky Way. For this image, I focussed on the immediate surroundings of the star Sadr, the center star in the Cygnus “cross”. There is a HII region, known as IC 1318, or Gamma Cygni Nebula, sometimes also called “Butterfly Nebula”. This image is a result of narrowband recording (Ha, SII and OIII wavelengths) with a total of almost 3 hrs exposure time. It was processed with PixInsight and Photoshop, using the “Forax” color palette.
The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is a huge interstellar cloud located in the constellation of Sagittarius. Its a star-forming region and has a distance from Earth of about 5000 lightyears. The smaller, quite peculiar object next to it in this image is the Trifid Nebula (M20), another star-forming region of our Milky Way. It sits only slightly closer to Earth at around 4100 lightyears. This image is a result of narrowband recording (Ha, SII and OIII wavelengths) with a total of 2hrs and 40 minutes exposure time. It was processed with PixInsight and Photoshop, using the “Forax” color palette.
The Heart Nebula (IC1805) finally makes an appearance over my house (which obscures a good part of the eastern sky) around midnight and still leaves enough time for a decent gathering of narrowband light (almost three and a half hours). It sits about 7500 lightyears away from Earth in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The cluster of stars in the center contains a few stars that are 50 times the size of our sun! And this cluster is the power source that ignites the surrounding gas. Adjacent to the “heart” (in the lower right of my image) is the companion Fishhead Nebula (IC1795).
