NGC 6995 The Bat Nebula

The Cygnus loop in the Constellation of Cygnus (The Swan) is a lovely area containing fragments from a Super Nova Explosion in which a large star exploded, destroying itself.

 

The Cygnus Loop has 2 main halves The Eastern Veil and The Western Veil. The loop contains some spectacular objects like the Witch's Broom, the Bat and Pickering's Triangle. The Cygnus Loop is about 1,800 light years from Earth.

 

This picture is a snippet of the Eastern Veil. At one end of this wispy thread of Hydrogen (red), Oxygen and Nitrogen (blue) it spreads out and looks like a flying bat. Hence the name given to NGC 6995 is the Bat Nebula. You should be able to see the head and ears at the left hand edge of the picture, the body is below that and a hooked wing spread out to the left.

 

My 11" Celestron gets so close that it could only capture a part of the bat. I intend to return soon with my 5" Celestron to see if I can get the whole bat in one bite as Ozzy Osbourne might say.

 

Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

 

Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Pro

Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -5C

Filter: Optolong L-eNhance filter

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam

Guide via: ZWO OAG

 

Stacked from:

Lights 40 at 180 seconds, gain 101, temp -5C

Darks 30 at 180 seconds, gain 101, temp -5C

Flat 30 at 1.4 seconds, gain 101, temp -5C

Dark Flat 30 at 1.4 seconds gain 101 temp -5C

 

Bortle 4 sky.

Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.

Adjusted in Photoshop CS4 and Topaz DeNoise AI

 

 

Done