Photographic wanderings

• French

The month of June has been a return in terms of astronomical photography, the first picture being a regain control of my telescope WO Megrez 110 on Sadr and IC1318. The picture I show you below represents a part of the nebula called the Veil Nebula (NGC6960, étant englobé dans la Sharpless SH2-103). It has been taken on 25th June 2011, the day after “Sadr and IC1318″.

For those who don’t know this nebula, it is in the Cygnus constellation, in its wings near the star 52 Cygni.

The Veil Nebula is a supernova remanent that exploded about 10’000 years ago. It is at about 1’400 light years away. Its angular size in the sky is about 3.83° x 2.67° (the angular diameter of the Full Moon is 0.5°).

This picture only shows a part (2.30° x 1.53°) : the Western Veil (also called the “Witch’s Broom”) with the foreground star 52 Cygni that is at about 206 light years away and the Pickering’s Triangle.

As for the picture, I think I can do better: better focusing, longer exposure time. We also can see the optics is not the best: well, it’s not a Televue nor a Takahashi telescope! I didn’t use any filter during the acquisition (such as a UHC filter) : the stars of the Milky Way are a bit overhelming. For the processing, I let you have your opinion (I’m interested in your comments or advice).

The “Full” version, for astrophotographers, can be found >> HERE <<.

Technical information :

• Object(s): NGC6960, part of Sh2-103, star 52 Cygni
• Place: Ajon (Bogève – Haute-Savoie – France)
• Date : 25th June 2011
• Constellation : Cygnus (Cyg)
• Numerical device : Canon EOS 350D Baader
• Telescope: William Optics Megrez 110 + Televue Corrector
• Number of shots: 23
• Unit exposure time: 5 min at 200 ISO (i.e. total exposure : 1h55)
• Mounting: Losmandy G11 + Gemini
• Guiding with LVI Smartguider on a William Optics Zenithstar 66 SD + Televue Powermate 2.5x
• Pre-processing / Processing : Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight LE, Photoshop CS5.5

Useful link :

• The Veil Nebula (Wikipédia)

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