Cygnus Loop
(Sharpless 103)
The image below is a work in progress and the first project with my new RedCat 51 set-up. It’s great to shoot a wider field of view at 250mm after imaging for so long at over 700mm. It meant I could capture of the entire Cygnus Loop - an iconic supernova. This was taken in East Sussex in mid-summer when there was no astronomical darkness at 51 degrees latitude during two nights in the tent with astro dog Cosmo.
I need to add more subframes but already the shape of this target illustrates graphically how a star has detonated causing huge shock waves and sending dust billowing out from a central point. This violent event happened only around 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.
RedCat 51 (f/4.9) with AM5n mount
Total exposure: 5h 50m
Ha 33x300 OIII 37x300
Below are images of the eastern and western sides of the Cygnus Loop, taken at 740mm focal length with an Evostar 120ED DS-Pro with HEQ5 mount. Both were captured from my light-polluted back garden.
On the left is the Western Veil (Caldwell 34) also known as ‘The Witch’s Broom’. Details: Total exposure: 12 hrs 30m. Filters: Ha 91 x 300, OIII 59 x 300
On the right is the Eastern Veil Nebula (Caldwell 33) also known as ‘The Bat’. Total exposure: 11 hrs 5m. Filters: Ha 62 x 300, OIII 57 x 300
Cygnus Loop - wider context
We’re going super wide now at 37mm. This was taken with a Canon EOS Ra full frame mirrorless camera on a Star Adventurer at a very dark Bortle 2 site. It’s an RGB one-shot colour image with some added data using an Ha filter. The lens was a Canon EF-24-105mm f/4 IS USM.
RGB 51x60 ISO 1600 f/5
Ha 52x75 ISO 8000 f/4
Total integration 1hr 56m
