IC 5146, SH 2-125 - The Cocoon Nebula is a reflection and emission nebula about 4000 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus. The cluster of stars associated with it interact with bright and dark nebula, which have star forming regions.
In the UK the nights are now temporarily in perpetual twilight. I've seen horror stories of people packing scopes away for the month! So just for fun, I tried a little experiment over 2 nights, to see what was really possible in challenging conditions. I wasn't brave enough to try an OSC camera though!
The "Strawberry" full Moon was sitting low in the South and the Astro planner was saying insufficient darkness for deep sky imaging. I switched cameras, put the Ha filter on and carried on as usual. I broke all the rules, imaging right up to the end of nautical twilight! It's probably comparable to Bortle 9 skies or white zone. Amazing how much H-alpha got through the glare and the number of stars that were visible. As well as a reasonable image, I got more experience using N.I.N.A, managed to get autofocus set up and working and successfully tested a new A2 light panel for flats. All in all a perfect weekend!
Clear skies!
Tony.
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