The Gamma Cygni field (400 mm lens), Michael Watson

The Gamma Cygni field (400 mm lens)

Equipment

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Acquisition details

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Description

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Photographed at Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve, near Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada(185 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 16 degrees C. - with excellent conditions for astrophotography, but ferocious mosquitoes all night long!

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is festooned with glowing hydrogen gas clouds that appear faint grey-white to the human eye - but a long exposure with a digital camera reveals their red colour.

In this view brilliant Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan), is at upper left. The bright star Sadr (also known by its Greek letter name Gamma Cygni) is to the lower right of centre, in the middle of the hydrogen clouds.

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Nikkor AF-S 70 - 200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Total exposure time: 9 minutes.

Nine stacked frames; each frame:

400 mm focal length

ISO 4000; 60-second exposure at f/4.5; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, sharpening, colour desaturation)

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The Gamma Cygni field (400 mm lens), Michael Watson