Canon 30D Unmodified with Astronomik CLS filter
23x300sec at iso 1600
30 Darks/Flats/Bias
Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener


Cygnus in general and the region around Gamma Cygni (Sadr) in particular is rich in emission nebulosity. The complex at Gamma Cygni contains many catalogued nebulae and star clusters.

The bright star is Gamma Cygni and the 'butterfly nebula' is the area of most dense nebula at the center. The dark lane that separates the two halves of the Butterfly is actually a dark nebula, known as LDN 889, which lies between us and the red emission nebula beyond. Above Gamma and slightly to the left is the open cluster NGC 6910.

We are looking straight along the axis and into the Orion Arm of our Galaxy in this direction and the nebula is about 3700 light years from earth.

The image is 'clumpy' and the red is washed out and inconsistent/varied in hue in some areas. I believe that this represents areas that would have shown up much more intensely with a camera that was more sensitive to H-alpha.


June 11, 2007