The North America Nebula in Cygnus
(Gulf of Mexico region)
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 8/25/16

The monsoon season is usually pretty brutal when it comes to taking night sky images. After a cloud filled day, the sky cleared for a few hours and I was able to get a few hours on this gem nearing the zenith this time of year. Intense lightning flashes over the horizon ended the session, and by 11pm the sky let loose in one giant electrical storm with tons of rain. Fortunately, this was enough time to get a deep shot with this fast scope. The composition here was absolutely critical. By rotating the field to best effect, I could just fit the desired gulf of Mexico region and the fantastic accompanying dark nebula perfectly in this shot. The star images are very nice right to the edges with this instrument, ay?! Not bad for f/3.9....
Select an image size for a larger view 1290 x 960 (good) 1600 x 1200 (Awesome)
Instrument: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD CCD Camera: SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling Guider: Meade DSI Pro w/80mm piggyback refractor Exposure: RGB = 50:20:15 AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio: 1: 1.05: 1.2 Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing FWHM = 5 arcsec , Transparency 7/10 Outside Temperature: 55 F CCD Temperature: -20 C Image Processing Tools: Maxim DL6: Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking PixInsight: Curves, Deconvolution Photoshop CS2: Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS