Dark Nebula in Vulpecula Region

CLICK HERE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION - (2400x1600)

Scope: Sigma APO 150 mm SLR Lens at f/3.5; Location: Laguna Mountains, CA;  20 June, 2009; Camera: Canon XT 350D (Baader ACF modified)

Exposure: 18 x 6 min  (no filters) ISO 800 , 8 Darks, no Flats 

Processing: Images were captured with DSLR Focus  and saved as RAW file format. Images were decoded and dark corrected in IRIS. Images were aligned and stacked in IRIS with Sigma Median.  Dark point equalization and rough color balance  were done in IRIS. Gamma adjustments also done in Iris. Gradient removal was done in IRIS with a pseudo-flat generation. The 6 minute  exposure stacks were saved as Tiff.  Luminance was extracted, stretched and sharpened in Photoshop. The color channels were softened and saturated before being recombined with the Luminance with luminance layering. Final stretching and touch up was done in PhotoShop.     Final Image size is approximately 3465x2306 - re-sampled to 2400x1597.

North is up in this image.  This image is guided.  This is an image of a congested region of our Milky Way galaxy. The region is the Southwestern corner of Vulpecula. The two notoable astronomic obects in this field are the nebulous cluster NGC 6820 - NGC 6823  toward the upper left (redish glow) and the star asterism known as the "Coathanger" toward the lower edge. In this field, the "Coathanger" is upside down.  There are also numerous dark nebula which are clouds of dust which block light from background stars and give the appearance of holes in the sky. There are 42 dark nebula objects from Lynd's Dark Nebula Catalog. In the upper part of the image, the upper dark nebula is a combination of Lynd's 771, 772, and 778 catalog entries; the one just below it is 767, 768, 769, 772. The Coathanger stars range from 218 to 1,132 light years distant from Earth.   The Vertical FOV is about 8 deg, 20 min.

Image Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 19h 29m 44s Dec: +22°09'21" 

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All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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