Cygnus is packed with celestial treasures for the visual astronomer and astrophotographer. After imaging this region exactly a year ago in 2020 in
monochrome, using my L-eNhance filter, I wanted to add some colour.
Captured under a dark sky using a Pentax 28mm SLR lens at f4 attached to my imaging camera, this comprises 30 minutes LRGB data with accentuation of the Ha/OIII in the extensive emissions with some 60s exposures from my L-eNhance narrowband filter. No auto guiding was required for these short 30s exposures. I might try adding my data from 2020 to enhance this further in a future revision.
Data were aligned and stacked using Han Klein’s excellent
ASTAP software (which I will also use to annotate the image in a further revision). The resulting stacks were processed in Startools 1.8 alpha, with the NB data used to accent the LRGB composite. Revision B comprises the LRGB data only.
I applied contrast, sharpening, deconvolution and star reduction to push back the dense star fields (which make this region such a joy for visual observing) in order to emphasise these lovely nebulae.
I note my NB data taken a year ago under Bortle 4-5 skies is sharper than this NB data from Bortle 2 skies - a reminder to use a higher f-stop with these fast lenses. I hope you enjoy navigating this extraordinary region.
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