The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away. It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

Details

M: Mesu 200

T: Orion Optics ODK10

C: QSI683 with 3nm Ha and OIII filter, Baader RGB filters

50x1800s in Ha

51x1800ss in OIII

15x300s in each RGB

Totalling 54hrs 15 mins

DESCRIPTION: Cloudy nights = more time for learning post processing skills… I reprocessed older data from June, 2020. The same photo were posted on June 2020. I am not so satisfied with stars shape and quality, maybe it caused by optics. I would very appreciate your comments or tips.

OBJECT: NGC 6888, Crescent Nebula, Constellation Cygnus (Swan), apparent magnitude 7,4, apparent dimension 18 x 12 arcmin, FOV 3,6 x 2,5 arcdeg, cropped 1,25 x.

GEAR: Nikon Z7 Kolari Full Spectrum + Nikkor 500/5,6 PF, Rollei Astroklar Light pollution filter, tracking mount iOptron CEM60EC - 3 star alignment, no auto guiding, dew heater.

ACQUISITION: June 24, 2020, Struz, CZ, Exposure 240s, f 5,6, ISO 400, Light 15x, Dark 5x, Bias 5x, Flat 10x. Total exposure time 60 min during Astronomical twilight.

STACKING AND POST PROCESSING: AstroPixelProcessor, Pixinsight, Adobe Photoshop CC 2021.

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebula was formed by the stellar wind of the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163). Distance - about 5000 light years from earth.

Details:

- Imaging telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 11" SCT

- Imaging camera: FLI MicroLine ML16200

- Mount: Astro-Physics 1100 GTO CP4

- Guiding telescope or lens: Celestron OAG Deluxe

- Guiding camera: ZWO ASI174 Mini

- Focal reducer: Celestron .7x Focal Reducer, for 11" EdgeHD

- Software: Adobe Phosotshop CS5 , Seqence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8

Filters:

- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm

- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm

Accessories: Optec FastFocus C-11 SMFS, FLI CFW-7

Dates: May 22, 2020, May 23, 2020, May 24, 2020

Frames:

Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm: 9 x1 800" -25C bin 1x1

Chroma OIII 3nm 50mm: 10 x 1800" -25C bin 1x1

Integration: 9.5 hours

Avg. Moon age: 15.49 days

Avg. Moon phase: 1.59%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 6.00

Nochmal was neues für die Sternenfreunde. :)

Mit etwas Verzögerung ist mir das First Light mit dem neuen APO nun doch gelungen.

Zwar bei 97% Mond, aber das war mir bei endlich mal wieder klarem Himmel dann auch egal :D

Sony a6000a

TS65Q APO 65/420

Mgen II Guiding & Dithering

25 x 420s - ISO 400

plus Flats & Bias

Object: Cygnus – Crescent to the Tulip

This is a wide field perspective of the Constellation Cygnus from the Crescent Nebula to the Tulip Nebula.

The Field of View Includes:

•NGC6888 – Crescent Nebula (lower left)

•Sh2-101 – The Tulip Nebula (upper right)

•NGC6881 – planetary nebula lower left – very small

•WR 134 - Wolf-Rayet star - surrounded by a faint bubble nebula blown by the intense radiation and fast wind from the star. Bottom, center right

•NGC 6871 is a small, young open cluster

•Several LDN regions (Lynds Dark Nebula)

-LDN863

-LDN862

-LDN866

-LDN865

-LDN861

-LDN855

-LDN857

-LDN860

-LDN847

-LDN849

-LDN856

-LDN853

-LDN852

-LDN849

- Acquisition Date: 08/11/2023

- Location: Western Massachusetts, USA

- Imaging Camera: QHY600PH-M -10°C - Mode 1(High Gain) Offset:15 Gain:56

- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII @ f/5 (530mm focal length - 106mm aperture)

- Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100 w/GTO4

- Guide scope: Celestron Off Axis Guider

- Guide Camera: ASI174m mini

- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley, Aries Astro Pixel Processor

Filters:

- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm

- Chroma OIII 3nm 50mm

Exposure Times:

- Hydrogen Alpha (Ha): 16 x 10min. (160min) bin 1x1

- Oxygen III (OIII):15x 10min. (150min) bin 1x1

Total Exposure:310min. (5.12hrs)

Sky Quality:

-Magnitude: 19.71

-Bortle Class 5

-1.41 mcd/m^2 Brightness

-1234.6 ucd/m^2 Artificial Brightness

Object: IC443 Jelly Fish and IC444 HOO (2023)

IC 443 (also known as the Jellyfish Nebula and Sharpless 248 (Sh2-248)) is a galactic supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini. Its distance is roughly 5,000 light years from Earth. IC 443 may be the remains of a supernova that occurred 3,000 - 30,000 years ago.

- Acquisition Date: 03/21/2023

- Location: Western Massachusetts, USA

- Imaging Camera: QHY600PH-M -10°C - Mode 1(High Gain) Offset:15 Gain:56

- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII @ f/5 (530mm focal length - 106mm aperture)

- Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100 w/GTO4

- Guide scope: Celestron Off Axis Guider

- Guide Camera: ASI174m mini

- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley, Aries Astro Pixel Processor

Filters:

- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm

- Chroma OIII 3nm 50mm

Exposure Times:

- Hydrogen Alpha (Ha): 13 x 10min. (130min) bin 1x1

- Oxygen III (OIII):10 x 10min. (100min) bin 1x1

Total Exposure:230min. (3.8hrs)

Sky Quality:

-Magnitude: 19.71

-Bortle Class 5

-1.41 mcd/m^2 Brightness

-1234.6 ucd/m^2 Artificial Brightness

Object: IC443 Jelly Fish and IC444 HOO (2023)

IC 443 (also known as the Jellyfish Nebula and Sharpless 248 (Sh2-248)) is a galactic supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini. Its distance is roughly 5,000 light years from Earth. IC 443 may be the remains of a supernova that occurred 3,000 - 30,000 years ago.

- Acquisition Date: 03/21/2023

- Location: Western Massachusetts, USA

- Imaging Camera: QHY600PH-M -10°C - Mode 1(High Gain) Offset:15 Gain:56

- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII @ f/5 (530mm focal length - 106mm aperture)

- Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100 w/GTO4

- Guide scope: Celestron Off Axis Guider

- Guide Camera: ASI174m mini

- Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley, Aries Astro Pixel Processor

Filters:

- Chroma Ha 3nm 50mm

- Chroma OIII 3nm 50mm

Exposure Times:

- Hydrogen Alpha (Ha): 13 x 10min. (130min) bin 1x1

- Oxygen III (OIII):10 x 10min. (100min) bin 1x1

Total Exposure:230min. (3.8hrs)

Sky Quality:

-Magnitude: 19.71

-Bortle Class 5

-1.41 mcd/m^2 Brightness

-1234.6 ucd/m^2 Artificial Brightness

Description:

About 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus lies NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula. Its arched and filamentary form was sculpted by the powerful stellar winds of Wolf–Rayet 136, colliding with slower material expelled during a previous red supergiant phase.

In this multiband image, crimson filaments trace hydrogen, teal clouds mark oxygen, while additional emission from sulfur and hydrogen-beta enriches the structure with subtle chromatic variations. The combined data highlight the complex network of shocks and ionized gas surrounding its central star, creating the intricate shell known as the Crescent Nebula.

Spanning about 25 light-years, the Crescent Nebula is a dynamic structure, destined to be dramatically reshaped when its central star ends its life in a supernova explosion.

Technical details:

The image was processed in an HOO palette, with H-alpha mapped to red and OIII mapped to green and blue. Additional H-beta and SII data were later blended in using a screen blending mode, with H-beta encoded in blue and SII encoded in yellow. The natural star colors were restored using PixInsights' Ballesteros blackbody estimator tool.

Telescope: Meade LX200 ACF 10" OTA

Camera QHYCCD QHY268 M

Mount: 10Micron GM2000 HPS II

Filter Ha + OIII (Astrodon) + Hb (Astronomik) + SII (Baader)

Total Integration: 83 h

Software: N.I.N.A. and PixInsight

May - Jun 2025

Antonio Ferretti & Attilio Bruzzone from Lanciano (Italy)

Combined Data of 2 Sessions

31 x 600s + 86 x 300s

Sony a6000a - Skywatcher 150/750 PDS - MGEN II

Golden Crescent Nebula

This id about 1/2 the data so far for NGC6888. Still need to collect more Ha and O3 subs when the sky is clear.

NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This colorful portrait of the nebula uses narrow band image data combined in the Hubble palette. It shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in the wind-blown nebula in red, green and blue hues. NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away. (APOD text).

Narrowband image: 29/4 & 11/5/15

Oxfordshire, UK

4 Hours Total Exposure

Bin 1x1: 6x1200s Ha

Bin 2x2: 7x600s SII, 5x600s OIII

Equipment:

T: Takahashi FSQ106ED

C: QSI683ws Mono CCD, Astronomik Filters (6nm Ha)

M: Celestron Advanced Vx

G: QHY5-II

Sony a6000a - Skywatcher 150/750 PDS

94 x 300s - ISO 400

This one turned out way better than I anticipated!

Equipment

ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro

TeleVue NP101is

Losmandy G11

Capture

R: 20 x 90s

G: 20 x 90s

B: 20 x 90s

Total Integration: 1.5 hours

Processing

PixInsight

Photoshop

Testlauf meines vorläufig kompletten ZWO Setups.

Hauptkamera: ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro

Guiding: ZWO OAG - ASI 120 MC-S

Optolong L-Extreme in ZWO Filterschublade

Fokus: ZWO EAF

Steuerung: ZWO Aisair Pro

Teleskop: TS65Q APO

NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula (and open cluster IC 4996).

The Crescent Nebular was formed when the stellar wind of Wolf–Rayet star WR 136 collided with material the star ejected during its super red giant phase. Wolf–Rayet stars are a rare set of stars with strong stellar winds and surface temperatures as high as 200,000 K. This faint emission nebula is located along the plane of the Milky Way in the constellation Cygnus.

With an apparent diameter of 1/3 of a degree - a little smaller than the moon - and a distance of 5k light-years, this nebular is approximately 25 light-years in diameter. At abut 15x the mass of our sun, and 4.7 Myrs old, WR 136 is nearing the end its life - which will end in a bang, as a supernova.

20180809 - Newtown, PA

D5500

WO-61 w/flat61

69 x 30s, 1600iso

Regim Sig1.6 with darks

---Color Preserving Stretch

Affinity Photo

crop - 50% resolution

CresNeb_sig16_APnrc_AP2_c50r90q

HO-SHO (6nm narrow band filters)

Bin1x1 Ha:3h44, OIII:3h28mn, Bin2x2 S2:1h40 exposure time

200/1000 mm Newtonian telescope

Camera ZWO ASI1600MM Pro

Guiding with AOG and ZWO ASI1174MM mini camera using PHD2

Automatic acquisitions with APT

Preprocessing with SIRIL

Image processing with Photoshop

Final touch with Lightroom

***STARLESS VERSION OF NGC6888***

Well this is my third re-processed image from date obtained back in 2018. I wanted to try something that was really going to stretch StarNet++ to see how good it was at distinguishing between stars and nebula remnants and I must say it worked very well with only minimal remedial work required. I also realised in my humble opinion that my processing has improved in the last 3 years. Maybe I need to revisit all my old images...

Object Description:-

NGC 6888 the Crescent Nebula is in the constellation of Cygnus and approximate 5,000 ly from earth with a visual mag of 7.4. It structure is formed by the star shedding its outer layer in a strong stellar wind interacting with slower moving material shed at an earlier time. The star is at the end of its stellar life and will eventually result in a Supernova.

EQUIPMENT:-

Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 12nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula (Cygnus)

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

33 Ha subs@300sec (2h 45m)

24 Oiii subs@300sec (2h)

Total imaging Time 4.45h

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

DSS

PS CS2

This image is dedicated to my Uncle Ron who served in the RAF during World War II. He passed away last month at the age of 98 around the time this image was taken.

My first summer Nebula taken around the time of shortest night where even down south Astronomical Twilight doesn’t finish. Due to this I could only image between midnight and 2am, I was surprisingly fortunate to get 4 clear nights in succession. Though I have imaged this before this is the first time with a wider field scope and therefore managed to include the soap bubble in the top right.

OBJECT DESCRIPTION:-

NGC 6888 the Crescent Nebula is in the constellation of Cygnus and approximate 5,000 ly from earth with a visual mag of 7.4. It structure is formed by the star shedding its outer layer in a strong stellar wind interacting with slower moving material shed at an earlier time. The star is at the end of its stellar life and will eventually result in a Supernova.

Also included in the top right is the Soap Bubble Nebula (PN G075.5+01.7) a planetary nebula. It was discovered by amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich in 2007/08.

EQUIPMENT:-

Telescope: Explore Scientific 102mm F7 APO Carbon

Focal Reducer: Explore Scientific 0.7

Mount: AZ-EQ6 GT

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos

Guide Camera: Orion Mini Auto Guide

Filter: Astronomik 6nm Ha

Filter: Astronomik 6nm Oiii

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula (Cygnus)

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

36Ha subs@360sec (3h 30min)

30 Oiii subs@360sec (3h)

Total imaging Time 6h 30min over 4 nights

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

DSS

StarNet++

Siri

PS CS2

‎ سديم الهلال هو عباره عن غيوم فضائية تتألف من غاز الهايدروجين المحفز بواسطة نوع من النجوم يدعى Wolf-Rayet. هذا النوع من النجوم له عواصف شمسية قوية لها القدرة على تحفيز غاز الهايدروجين وجعله يضيئ باللون الاحمر. تكون مثل هذة النجوم في نهاية حياتها حيث تقوم بالتخلي عن غلافها الغازي الخارجي و الذي يظهر في الصورة على شكل هلال. وتقع هذة النجمه في وسط سديم الهلال.

This beautiful nebula is resemble crescent Moon. Its mainly composed oh Hydrogen gas. The powerful stellar wind that produced from Wolf-Rayet star is responsible for expanding & energizing Hydrogen gas to glow in red. Actually, this star is in its final stage of life, which expel its outer layer of gases which appears as crescent in this nebula. This star is located in the central region. Lights Ha 35 x 300, O iii 48 x 300, total exposure of 7 hours. Gear setup: Ioptron GEM45, Celestron Edge HD8 @f/7, ZWO EFW 2”, Antila Ha 3nm, Antila O III 3nm, ZWO 2600MM @ 0. Captured by APT, Sharpcap pro, PHD2. Stacked in APP & processed in PS and Pixinsight.

Wide field image of the Cygnus region of the Milky Way, a 12-piece mosaic which I've assembled using H-alpha modified Sony A7iii camera, Sony 70-200 GM II OSS lens @ 200mm and a tracking mount.

The processing was quite challenging due to wild gradients of light pollution and time differences while shooting different parts of this image.

This region hosts numerous nebulae, including most photographed and easily recognized NGC7000 (North America Nebula), Pelican Nebula, Sadr Butterfly and Crescent Nebulae, Propeller and Tulip nebulae, Veil Nebula, a multitude of dark nebulae and star clusters.

Taken by me on July 19, 2023 in the Negev desert and processed using PixInsight, Photoshop and GraXpert.

My special thanks to friends who made me a company on that night and to Adam Block for his instructional videos on astronomical image processing.

DESCRIPTION: Data were collected during astronomical twilight. We have no night around solstice on our latitude. Honestly I am surprised, final image is good for me… I looking forward your comments and tips…..

OBJECT: NGC 6888, Crescent Nebula, Constelation Cygnus (Swan), apparent magnitude 7,4, apparent dimension 18 x 12 arcmin, FOV 3,6 x 2,5 arcdeg, sampling rate 1,79 arcsec / px, cropped 1,25 x.

GEAR: Nikon Z7 Kolari Full Spectrum + Nikkor 500/5,6 PF, Rollei Astroklar Light pollution filter, tracking mount iOptron CEM60EC - 3 star alignment, no auto guiding, dew heater.

ACQUISITION: June 24, 2020, Struz, CZ, Exposure 240s, f 5,6, ISO 400, Light 15x, Dark 5x, Bias 5x, Flat 10x. Total exposure time 60 min during Astronomical twilight.

STACKING AND POST PROCESSING: AstroPixelProcessor, Pixinsight, Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 (Astronomic presets).

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures. [WIKI]

Imaged using the Celestron C14 Edge HD telescope in dome 4 at Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos observatory in Gorafe, Spain.

A higher resolution image with imaging details can be found on my Astrobin page at: astrob.in/q54eoy/0/

Technical summary:

Captured: 10 Nights in July 2024

Location: Turismo Astronómico, Los Coloraos, Gorafe, Spain

Bortle Class: 3

Total Integration: 30 hours 50 mins

Filters: Red 40x 180s, Green 40x 180s, Blue 40 x 180s, Ha 131 x 300s, Oiii 191 x 300s

Pixel Scale: 0.4 arcsec/pixel

Telescope: Celestron C14 Edge HD

Image Camera: ZWO ASI6200MM Pro

Filters: Astronomik R, G, B, Ha, Oiii

Mount: Skywatcher EQ 8

Computer: Minix NUC

Capture software: NINA, PHD2

Editing software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom

This image shows the tail of the constellation Cygnus (Swan) around the stars Deneb and Sadr.

The left side of the frame is dominated by the famous North America Nebula (NGC7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC5070). The bright blue star is Deneb. It is the brightest known star in visible light. If it was as close to earth as Vega (25 light years), it would shine as bright as a crescent moon!

The right yellowish-white star on the right side is a supergiant named Sadr. Sadr is surrounded by the emission nebula IC1318 one of the several nebulous regions at the centre of Cygnus. IC 1318 is known as the Gamma Cygni Nebula, Sadr Region or the Butterfly Nebula. It is not physically related to Sadr, but merely lies in the same line of sight. The nebula is located much farther away than the star.

At the very edge of the frame on the right is the Crescent Nebula. The star responsible for the nebula’s shape and glow is the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136. The nebula is formed by the star’s fast, powerful stellar wind that collides with the slower wind ejected by the star about 250,000 years ago, when WR 136 expanded to become a red giant. The collision has produced a dense shell, which continues to expand at a speed of 80 km/s.

Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com

EXIF

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, cooled astrocam

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L ll @ 70mm

Baader Hll & Olll ultra narrowband and RGB filters

Skywatcher AZ-GTI, equatorially mounted

ZWO ASI 385MC guide cam

Rig control with a ZWO ASIair

20 x 180s Hll

30 x 120s Olll

20 x 30s RGB

Wide field using 275mm Radian Raptor telescope. Crescent Nebula on the left, 5,000 light-years away, and 25 light-years across. Red Hydrogen gas in the Cygnus area. Taken from central Phoenix using a Triad Ultra quadband filter to block the light pollution. 25 X 10 min exposures, or little over 4 hours of time, collapsed into one photo.

Well this is my third re-processed image from date obtained back in 2018. I wanted to try something that was really going to stretch StarNet++ to see how good it was at distinguishing between stars and nebula remnants and I must say it worked very well with only minimal remedial work required. I also realised in my humble opinion that my processing has improved in the last 3 years. Maybe I need to revisit all my old images...

The original image can be found here:-

flic.kr/p/28vSuaV

Object Description:-

NGC 6888 the Crescent Nebula is in the constellation of Cygnus and approximate 5,000 ly from earth with a visual mag of 7.4. It structure is formed by the star shedding its outer layer in a strong stellar wind interacting with slower moving material shed at an earlier time. The star is at the end of its stellar life and will eventually result in a Supernova.

EQUIPMENT:-

Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 12nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula (Cygnus)

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

33 Ha subs@300sec (2h 45m)

24 Oiii subs@300sec (2h)

Total imaging Time 4.45h

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

DSS

PS CS2

Target

NGC6888 The Crescent Nebula

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

It was formed by the stellar winds of Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing

the slower moving winds ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago

Distance - about 5000 light years from earth.

Gear:

Mount: ZWO AM5

Main Cam: ZWO ASI294MC Pro @ gain 121 and 14F

Guide Cam: ZWO ASI120MM Mini with ZWO 30mm f/4 scope

Lens: Sigma 150-600 @ 500

Filter: Antlia ALP-T 5nm Ha and Oiii

Acquisition:

48 5 min exposures total of 4.0 hours

Location: Rural area just west of Houston outer loop

Bortle: 4/5

Moon: 34% below horizon for most of session

Processing:

Pixinsight WBPP

Pixinsight SPCC, SCNR

Pixinsight DBE

PixInsight BlurXTerminator

Pixinsight NoiseXTerminator

Pixinsight StarXterminator

Pixinsight EZ Soft Stretch

PhotoShop/ACR selective colors

Pixinsight Curves, MMT, EZ Star Reduction, recombine stars

Crescent (NGC 6888) and Soap bubble nebula

SW HEQ5 Pro Goto (Rowan belt modded)

Skywatcher Quattro 200/800 Newton

Canon Eos 100D

Lacerta Mgen2 autoguider

Optolong L-extreme 2" filter

90x300s Iso1600

Worked on this 2 panel mosaic of the Crescent Nebula and WR 134. If you look closely, you can see the Soap Bubble Nebula below the Crescent.

Taken with an AstroTech AT65EDQ, ZWO ASI1600mm-Pro, and Chroma 5nm Ha and 3nm Oiii filters on a belt modded Orion Sirius EQ-G.

Total Exposure time: 67.33 Hours

- 351 x 300" Ha

- 457 x 300" Oiii

All processing in PixInsight

The Crescent Nebula, part of the Cygnus (The Swan) constellation, approximately 5000 light years from Earth in the Sadr region of the constellation Cygnus, The Swan.

24 x 180s lights, 40 flats and 80 bias frames but no darks.

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in Photoshop

Explore 31 August 2020

This is part of my 3-4 month project; Project Sadr in #Cygnus. I suspect this will complete in 2021.

Plan:

12 panel Mosiac with astro-modified #canont3i, 4 hours per panel

12 panel Mosiac with astro-modified t3i with Ha filter, 4 hours per panel

6 panel Mosiac with #Canon6D

This picture is panel 1 of the t3i, 40 minutes in RGB

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away. It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

Details

M: Mesu 200

T: Orion Optics ODK10

C: QSI683 with 3nm Ha filter

27x1800s in Ha

I will be getting the OIII data for this as soon as the weather permits.

This image is the "Crescent Nebula" in Cygnus. Frist the excuses, this was taken on the shortest night of the year and I could barely make out the Milky Way running through Cygnus, at Lat 51 deg it doesn’t get truly dark again till mid July. I took this over 2 nights between 00:00 and 2:20.

I usually just use the Ha as a luminance layer but I noticed that there was quite a bit of detail in the Oiii. I Ended up using “Deep Sky Stacker” to combine my processed Ha and Oiii to create a Ha/Oiii luminance Layer. I tried to find a way of creating this in photoshop C2 but couldn’t find one.

“If anyone out there knows of a better way to create a combined Ha/Oiii luminance Layer please let me know.”

Object Description:-

NGC 6888 the Crescent Nebula is in the constellation of Cygnus and approximate 5,000 ly from earth with a visual mag of 7.4. It structure is formed by the star shedding its outer layer in a strong stellar wind interacting with slower moving material shed at an earlier time. The star is at the end of its stellar life and will eventually result in a Supernova.

EQUIPMENT:-

Telescope Meade 6000 115mm and AZ-EQ6 GT

ZWO ASI1600mm-Cool cmos camera

Orion Mini Auto Guide

Astronomik 12nm Ha Filter

Astronomik 6nm Oiii Filter

Chip Temp Cooled to -20 degC

IMAGING DETAILS:-

NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula (Cygnus)

Gain 139 (Unit Gain)

33 Ha subs@300sec (2h 45m)

24 Oiii subs@300sec (2h)

Total imaging Time 4.45h

Dithering

20 Darks

20 Flats

PROCESSING/GUIDING SOFTWARE:-

APT "Astro Photograph Tools"

DSS

PS CS2

The Crescent Nebula lies at a distance of about 5000 LY from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, one of the busier areas of the sky. It lies in a dense star field surrounded by a lot of faint dust and gas.

-=Tech Data=-

-Equipment-

Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 100

Mount: Celestron CGX

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120 Mini

Guide Scope: Starfield 60mm guide scope

Dew Control: Kendrick

Power: Pegasus Astro Pocket Power Box

- Acquisition -

40 x 5 min RGB

68 x 3 min Ha

- Software -

Acquisition / Rig Control: Sequence Generator Pro

Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor

Processing: PixInsight

Post Processing: Photoshop CC

Shot at the Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Area near Moscow, Ontario and the Dark Sky Viewing Area near Erinsville, Ontario.

wasn't happy with the last rendition, so i processed it again with some differences. :)

Same data and kit.

Here is a view of the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Sharpless 105) located in the constellation Cygnus. The Crescent Nebula is about 5,000 light years away from Earth and was formed by the central star shedding its outer layers. According to NASA, “Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion”. This is a re-processed image using several new PixInsight plugins called StarXTerminator and BlurXTerminator.

Observation data: J2000.0 epoch

Right ascension: 20h 12m 7s

Declination: +38° 21.3′

Distance: 5,000 ly

Apparent magnitude (V): +7.4

Apparent dimensions (V): 18′ × 12′

Constellation: Cygnus

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO AS2600mc-Pro running at 0C, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter (2”), 54 x 300 second exposures, guided using a ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini, focus with a ZWO EAF, controlled with a ZWO ASIAir Pro. Processed using PixInsight and DSS. Image Date: May 29, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

The Crescent Nebula lies at a distance of about 5000 LY from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, one of the busier areas of the sky. It lies in a dense star field surrounded by a lot of faint dust and gas.

OHO data processed to produce a colour palette similar to the Hubble palette.

-=Tech Data=-

-Equipment-

Imaging Scope: Explore Scientific 80ED

Mount: Celestron CGX

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MC-Pro

Filter: STC Dua Narrowband (Ha and OIII)

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI120 Mini

Guide Scope: Starfield 60mm guide scope

Dew Control: Kendrick

Power: Pegasus Astro Pocket Power Box

- Acquisition -

96 x 5 min exposures (8 Hours)

Calibration:

∙ Darks: Master dark from my dark library (2H of 120s darks)

- Bias: Master bias from my bias library (stack of 100 exposures)

- Software -

Acquisition / Rig Control: Sequence Generator Pro

Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor

Processing: PixInsight

Post Processing: Photoshop CC

Shot at the Camden Lake Provincial Wildlife Area near Moscow, Ontario.

This is a portrait of the complex of nebulosity in northern Cygnus, with many wreaths and arcs of hydrogen gas interspersed with patches and tendrils of dark dust of varying densities. The main nebula is the North America (NGC 7000) at upper left, with the smaller Pelican Nebula (IC 5067) beside it in the "Atlantic Ocean." At bottom right is the Gamma Cygni complex, aka the Butterfly Nebula or IC 1318, while at the bottom right edge is the small arc of the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). The field is filled with other fainter nebulas catalogued in the Sharpless and DWB catalogues. Above Gamma Cygni right of centre are two small patches of blue reflection nebulosity, van den Bergh 131 and 132. Numerous star clusters also populate the area, some yellowed by interstellar dust. The main region of dark sky at centre is the Northern Coal Sack.

This is a blend of exposures taken in "normal" broadband light and exposures taken in red H-alpha light, to bring out the faint nebulosity. This is a stack of 12 x 1.5-minutes through an URTH Night filter to cut sky glow and bring out nebulas somewhat, plus a stack of 14 x 1.5-minutes with a 12nm Astronomics Hydrogen-Alpha clip-in filter, all with the Canon RF135mm lens at f/2 (it is f/1.8 wide open) and the filter-modified Canon R camera, at ISO 800 for the broadband images and ISO 6400 for the H-a images. The camera was on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker with no autoguiding.

The H-a images were converted to monochrome B&W and blended in with a Lighten blend mode with just the R channel on, and with Blend If and Fill Opacity controls to affect the degree of blending and to prevent the nebulas from becoming too monochrome red, preserving the subtle range of red and magenta tones. PhotoKemi Nebula Filter and Star Reduction actions also brought out the nebulosity.

Taken from home on July 8/9, 2023 on a night with reduced transparency and with the waning quarter Moon rising as the H-a set began (I planned it that way!). But between solstice twilight, high haze and moonlight, the sky conditions were not ideal. It also took some effort this night as the sky was getting dark to get the framing just right! But it was worth it, as the composition works very well following classic Rule of Thirds and Golden Spiral placement of key elements.

150/750 PDS, canon 1100d modificada, filtro UHC optolong, 80x600"+7x1200", autoguiado con buscador 9x50+spc900nc, procesada con pixinsight, Photoshop y lightroom.

No me convence el filtro UHC, parece que complica bastante el procesado

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. Discovered by William Herschel in 1792, is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 years ago. Older optical telescopes show the nebula as a faint crescent shaped structure. When viewed through a narrow band filter for OIII, the roughly spherical shape of the 25 x 16 light-year shockwave is revealed.

This image was taken with a RASA 8 telescope and ASI2600 MC Pro camera, with a IDAS NBZ II dual narrowband filter from Bortle 7 skies in Idaho Falls. The original 6050 x 4029 pixel image was downsized for posting.

A powerful, yet dying Wolf-Rayet star is responsible for this formation of glowing dust and gas known as the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) in the constellation of Cygnus. The star, HD 192163 will eventually end its life as a supernova. The Crescent nebula lies about 5000 light years distant, near the bright star Sadr at the center of the constellation Cygnus.

This image was taken with a Stellarvue SVS130 telescope and an STL-4020M camera with Astrodon Hα and Oxygen-III filters. The colour channels were assigned as: Hα as red, OIII as green, and OIII+12%Hα as blue. The OIII exposure time was almost 7 hours, although the Hα exposure time was only 2 hours due to incoming clouds. The image was processed in Maxim DL and Photoshop CC, and upsampled 2x for the final result.

I will never get tired of this part of the sky.

From my latitude, this part of Cygnus passes through the zenith. The bright star toward the left is Deneb, and the one toward the center is Sadr. All of the pink/red areas are hydrogen gas that is ionized by nearby, extremely hot stars. At the center, near Sadr, is the Butterfly Nebula (IC 1318). I did a 24 panel mosaic of this region with my telescope a few years ago -- flic.kr/p/tYxubt

A bit to the right of this region is the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). After I got narrowband filters, I reshot this nebula -- flic.kr/p/2jkujJC

There are so many dark nebula in this region as well. Above and to the right of Sadr is Barnard 343 -- flic.kr/p/2jp2keu

Below and to the right of Sadr is the only Messier object in this view, star cluster M29: flic.kr/p/2oKsPf3

At the left, below Deneb, is the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and 5070) just to its right. I haven't done a detailed study of this object yet.

Toward the right edge of the image is the Tulip Nebula (Sh2 - 101). I have a monochrome image of this using an H-alpha filter -- flic.kr/p/2mcJ4iK and I took additional color data later: flic.kr/p/2oRBCTS

This image is a stack of 37 40 s exposures taken with a Nikon D5100 at ISO 6400 and a focal length of 70 mm. This camera was modified for astrophotography to register the light from emission nebulae better. The camera was on an omegon Minitrack LX2 for tracking. Images were calibrated, stacked, and initially processed in PixInsight. Final touches in Photoshop.

A portrait of the complex of emission nebulas in central Cygnus near the bright star Gamma Cygni (at left). The field includes the IC 1318 complex around Gamma Cygni itself and the Wolf-Rayet arc of nebulosity, NGC 6888, aka the Crescent Nebula, at right. The sparse star cluster Messier 29 is at bottom.

This was through the SharpStar 94mm apo refractor at f/4.4 and with the Canon EOS Ra. It is a blend of 6 x 6-minute exposures at ISO 1600 through an Astronomik UV-IR-Cut filter for the base image, and a stack of 4 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through IDAS NB1 and Optolong L-eNhance filters for the enhanced red nebulosity, plus 6 x 12-minutes at ISO 3200 through Optolong L-eXtreme and IDAS NBZ filters which contribute only the enhanced cyan OIII emission, all taken as part of testing the filters. Normally, using four filters would not be required! Autoguided and dithered on this warm summer night with the Lacerta MGEN3 autoguider. No darks or LENR applied as the dithering effectively eliminated the thermal noise speckling which was prominent on the individual sub-frames.

Taken from home August 13, 2021. All stacked, aligned, and blended in Photoshop.

This is a wide field view of the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Sharpless 105) located in the constellation Cygnus. The Crescent Nebula is about 5,000 light years away from Earth. The Crescent Nebula was formed by the central star shedding its outer layers. According to NASA, “Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion”.

Tech Specs: Williams Optics REDCAT51, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro running at -10C, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter (2”), 48 x 300 second (4 hours) exposures with dark frames, guided using a ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini, controlled with a ZWO ASIAir Pro running v1.5 Beta software. Image date: September 20, 2020 and November 4th and 5th, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792.

I've been imaging the Crescent Nebula area over the last week when I got clear nights. I managed to get 5 nights with an average of 4+ hours each night, for an integration time over 20 hours. This is by far the longest integration time I've ever acquired. I wanted to experiment with longer integration times with an OSC camera (ASI2600MC Pro).

I used the FLT132 with the FLAT8 reducer (0.72x) to get a slightly wider field of view; it just about includes the Soap Bubble at the top left(ish) corner. I also used a combination of narrowband filters (Optolong L-Ultimate 3nm Ha & Oiii, IDAS NBZ and Antlia ALP-T 5nm Ha & Oiii) as well as a more broadband filter, Antlia Triband RGB Ultra. I think the combination of all the filters provides a more balanced set of colours, including a decent amount of Oiii detail in the Crescent Nebula.

Processed in PixInsight and Affinity Photo 2.

More acquisition details in Astrobin: astrob.in/08co9c/0/

Thanks for looking!

CS

Eduardo

The Crescent Nebula & Soap Bubble Nebula in about colour.

Captured 15/05/2020

The soap bubble nebula was only discovered in 2007 it’s an extremely faint planetary nebula.

Equipment used;

Lacerta 200/800 photo Newtonian

QHY9S CCD

Celestron CGX Mount

Baader narrowband filters

Capture details;

33 x 600 seconds Ha

52 x 600 seconds OIII

31 x darks

Superbias (pixinsight)

Software used;

SGP, PHD2, Pixinsight & Photoshop

Space Science image of the week:

A young massive star that began life around 25 times more massive than our own Sun is shedding shells of material and fast winds to create this dynamic scene captured by ESA’s XMM-Newton.

The image shows the detailed structure of the Crescent Nebula that shed a shell of material as it expanded into a red giant some 200 000 years ago. Fast winds emitted more recently have now collided with that material, causing the gasses in the bubble to heat up and emit X-rays, seen as blue in the image.

Other features can also be seen, such as the green hue, generated by oxygen atoms, where the star’s wind is interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium.

Density differences in the surrounding material may give rise to the different structures, such as the extended bubble segment to the top right.

The star will likely end its life in a violent supernova explosion.

The Crescent Nebula sits in the constellation of Cygnus about 5000 light-years away, exactly at a location in the sky that has not been accessible to XMM-Newton until recently. Although it has been well studied by other X-ray telescopes, astronomers working on XMM-Newton, which was launched on 10 December 1999, had to wait patiently until the orbit of the satellite was such that this patch of sky moved into its field of view in April 2014.

More information about XMM-Newton’s observation is available in “X-ray emission from the Wolf-Rayet bubble NGC 688. II. XMM-Newton EPIC observations", by J. Toalá et al. (2015).

Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton, J. Toalá & D. Goldman

I tried my best to bring out all the structure of the nebulosity around the Sadr star region in the Cygnus constellation. In the upper right region we can see the crescent nebula (euro sign shape), and a little down from the center we can see the Sadr star itself right above the butterfly nebula.

Technical specifications

Tamron 70-200 f2.8 G2 lens

Skywatcher Star adventurer 2i tracking mount

50x120s ISO 2000 + 83x90s ISO 2500, f/4.5 @ 135mm

EOS R

Clip in UHC filter

Here is a view of the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Sharpless 105) located in the constellation Cygnus. The Crescent Nebula is about 5,000 light years away from Earth and was formed by the central star shedding its outer layers. According to NASA, “Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion”.

Observation data: J2000.0 epoch

Right ascension: 20h 12m 7s

Declination: +38° 21.3′

Distance: 5,000 ly

Apparent magnitude (V): +7.4

Apparent dimensions (V): 18′ × 12′

Constellation: Cygnus

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO AS2600mc-Pro running at 0C, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter (2”), 54 x 300 second exposures, guided using a ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini, focus with a ZWO EAF, controlled with a ZWO ASIAir Pro. Processed using PixInsight and DSS. Image Date: May 29, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

An emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, the Crescent (NGC 6888) is about 5000 light-years away from Earth. Discovered by William Herschel in 1792. it is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving material ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000-400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and another moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures. (from Wikipedia)

Towards the upper right in the image is the Soap Bubble Nebula. Seemingly a circular apparition, it is thought to be a planetary nebula, and (somewhat surprisingly) it was not discovered until a pair of amateur astronomers independently identified it in 2007 and 2008.

Ha & OIII

HA Filter Only (3nm Astrodon).

10 x 600 Second Exposures.

Equipment:

Telescope: TEC 140

Mount: Astro-Physics 1100GTO

Camera: ASI1600mm

Photo rendered using PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom.

Canon EOS 600Dfs, Samyang 135 mm f/2.0, f/2.8, ISO-1600, 44 x 150 Sek. on Astrotrac, APP & Photoshop CS