IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168 (PrairieSkiesAstro)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg) · Contains: Cocoon nebula · IC 5146

IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168, PrairieSkiesAstro

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IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

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IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

Earlier this year I visited my grandmother-in-law's lake house near Del Rio, TX (for those not familiar with the layout of Texas, this is right on the Texas/Mexico border and an exceptionally dark region). One of the objects I really wanted to attempt while there was IC 5146, the Cocoon Nebula. Unfortunately I ran out of time and wasn't able to capture it while there, so I had to settle for an attempt in my back yard. And here is the result!

The Cocoon Nebula is approximately 4,000 light years from Earth and is 15 light years wide. It's categorized as a triple-type nebula (emission, reflection, and dark) although (unfortunately) you really can't see the reflection part surrounding the nebula core in my image (it's really hard to get a good OIII signal from my light polluted back yard!).

To be truthful, I had no idea that I would also be able to capture Barnard 168 (the dark nebulous region surrounding the Cocoon Nebula and extending to the right in my image). I didn't do my homework and so when I went to process this image and saw these dark regions initially I thought I had a major problem with my camera/optical train lol (or a major ringing problem at the very least). I was very happy (and relieved) to learn about this fascinating region of dark gas and dust!

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	3065331
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
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IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

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IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

IC5146 (C19) Cocoon Nebula and Barnard 168

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