Michael A. Stecker
mastecker@gmail.com



 

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North American (NGC 7000) and Pelican (IC 5070) Nebulae in Cygnus (false color)
This is a cropped image from a monochrome photo in Hydrogen-alpha light and then colorized in Photoshop.  These large emission nebulae, 2,500 light years from Earth, are in the constellation Cygnus not far from its brightest star Deneb.  The entire HII region, Sh2-117, is estimated to be 140 light years across with the North American Nebula stretching 90 light years north to south.  The portion resembling Mexico and Central America is known as the Cygnus Wall.
file: NGC7000-63minHa3nm-30July23_regCCDsharpDDP2-colorize1hrcr.jpg
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Also on Astrobin at: https://www.astrobin.com/m9f4yv/0/

Photographic Data
telescope:
William Optics ZenithStar 73 mm f/5.9 doublet refractor (focal length= 430 mm) with William Optics
Adjustable Flat73 for Z73 (P-FLAT73A)
 
mount and guiding
Astro-Physics 1200 GOTO mount with Nikkor 200 mm guide lens using a ZWO ASI120MM Mini
guide camera (2.9 micron pixels)

imaging camera
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro monochrome full-frame camera with narrow band Hydrogen-alpha filter

exposure
Hydrogen-alpha light of 656 nanometer wavelength (3 nm bandwidth) for 420 seconds X 9 (63 minutes)
 
processing
The monochrome filtered images were acquired and stacked by James Foster.  Then assigned a red color in Photoshop Elements to produce this false-color image by Michael Stecker.
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photographic site:
James Foster's observatory at Frazier Park California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_Park,_California
(Bortle 4 at 5,000 feet elevation)
 
 
 

Full frame false color photo of  North American and Pelican nebula
 
 
 

Original monochrome image at 656 nm wavelength (hydrogen alpha light)