Narrowband Pelican

Narrowband Pelican

Constellation: Cygnus
Ra: 20h 51m 11s
Dec: +44d 23m 44s
Distance: 2,000 light years
Image Size: 1.9 x 0.7 deg
North: Up

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Description

The Pelican Nebula (IC5070) is located "nearby" at only 2,000 light years in the constellation of Cygnus, The Swan. It is part of the same star-forming region of its famous neighbor, the North American Nebula (NGC 7000), which is off to the left in this image.

This is a "false-color" or "mapped color" image of the Pelican using narrowband filters to bring out structural detail, similar to the way Hubble Space Telescope images are often presented (e.g. Pillars of Creation). OIII, H-a and SII data were color mapped to blue, green and red, respectively. The golden brown color therefore denotes a strong mixture of H-a (G) and SII (R) at ionization fronts. RGB data were added for star color.

A picture of the imaging train on the FSQ-ED is shown below. This arrangement results in the focus tube extending only about 1/4". It includes:

Takahashi FSQ-ED with RoboFocus
Astrodon 92-98 mm adaptor for TAKometer
Astrodon TAKometer (cable not connected in this photo)
Takahashi CAA
Astrodon CAA-APF (92mm – 2.7" female, 0.4" thick)
Astrodon Spacer27 0.15" long "washer" fitting over 2.7" threads
0.75" Astro-Physics 2.7" extension tube
Astrodon MonsterMOAG off-axis guider with Starlight Loadstar guide camera
Apogee AI-FW50-9R filter wheel with 9 50mm slots
Apogee U8300 with 3326x2504 5.4 mic pixels

The Takahashi FSQ-ED is an improvement over the original FSQ106N refractor, the latter of which had significant focus differences between red, green and blue.

Exposure: 8 hrs; 7.5 hrs H-a, SII, OIII, 0.5 hrs RGB
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-ED refractor
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME
Oag: Astrodon MonsterMOAG
Acquisition: CCD AutoPilot4
Calibration: CCDStack2
Observatory Site: Sacramento, CA (backyard)
Camera: Apogee U8300
Filters: Astrodon 3nm OIII, H-a, SII, Gen 2 RGB
Guider: Starlight Express LodeStar
Camera Operation: MaximDL5.08
Processing: Photoshop CS3
Image Date: 06/26/2009

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