Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NGC7000



After raking the fall leaves as a small boy I use to spend time daydreaming and looking at the clouds - forming familiar shapes of animals and objects - usually from the books that I was reading or from places we visited.  The same way I use to daydream as a child – I find myself “night” dreaming while at the telescope.  This one reminds me of a palm tree bending in the oceans breezes.  As an “older” boy now it is nice to remember those younger days. 

This photograph is a small 22 x 30 arc minute view of the North America Nebula.  NGC7000 is a  emission nebula located in the constellation Cygnus close to the star Deneb and about 1800 light years distance.   This dim nebula is quite large covering an area larger than four full moons and was discovered by William Herschell on October 24, 1786.  



Optics:  Deep Sky Instruments RC10C
Mount:  Astro-Physics AP900GTO
Camera:   SBIG ST2K XM
Guiding Camera:  SBIG ST-i
Filters Astrodon  S2, Ha & O3
Location:  Deerlick Astronomy Village & Roswell, Georgia

Two Part Mosaic Total Exposure Details
S2 = 1440 Minutes (mapped to red)
Ha = 300 Minutes (mapped to green)
O3 = 1050 Minutes (mapped to blue)
All sub-exposures were 15 Minutes.
Total Exposure Time 46.5 Hours