Veil Nebula

Cygnus - Supernova Remnant - Intricate!

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The Veil Nebula in Cygnus

Perhaps my favorite visual object! This area of the sky is huge, so large in fact that placing all three segments of this supernova remnant on the CCD chip is rarely done without some form of mosaic. In this case, a large format CCD coupled with a short focal length astrograph can produce a thrilling, wide-field view of most all of the nebular regions of this complex.

Location: Texas Star Party 2004 near Fort Davis, Texas
Seeing: 8/10
Transparency: 9/10
Date and Time: May 19, 2003
Equipment: Tak FSQ-106 on Tak NJP mount
Camera: SBIG STL-6303E, self-guided
Exposure information: Grayscale, 60 minutes (10 min sub-exposures)
Filter: Custom Scientific 5 nm H-alpha filter
Processing Information: Calibration, deblooming, alignment, and Sigma combine in MaxIm 4. Curves, Levels, and selective, iterative Unsharp Mask in Photoshop CS.

Exposure Notes: This was my first attempt at using the 5 nm H-alpha filter that is integrated into the STL-6303E. I didn't have as difficult a time finding a guidestar as I originally feared.

Previous Attempt:

The Veil Nebula in Cygnus

Wow, is this a tough object to photograph! This photograph shows the western side of the nebula complex, IC 6960, that surrounds the star 52 Cygni. The tender filiments of the nebula can be seen here, though only barely. The Veil is a remnant of a supernova that has become pretty faint over time. It is seen pretty well with medium to large
apertured scopes using an OIII filter, but only in very dark skies.

Location: Texas Star Party 2003 near Fort Davis, Texas
Seeing: 7/10
Transparency: 9/10
Date and Time: May 2, 2003 @ 4:15 AM CST
Equipment: 420mm @ f4 (300mm Nikkor ED lens with TC14B teleconverter) guided with Meade 208xt
Length: Single 60 minute exposure
Film: Kodak Royal Gold 400
Processing Information: Image is greatly cropped with a levels adjustment and substantial contrast increase. Slight unsharp mask applied.

Exposure Notes: Missed perfect focus just slightly on this object. I also missed the composition, as I should have placed 52 Cygni at the right side of the shot so as to capture the entire nebula. Hence, I cropped it down in processing.