Captured from my amateur backyard Observatory in Western Michigan using the QHY11 Mono CCD and Takahashi E-180 Astrograph over several nights, September 2015, this is a Hubble Style image with SII mapped to Red, H-Alpha mapped to Green and OIII mapped to Blue. For the first time ever I captured this using 15 minute exposures rather than 10 minute exposures in an effort to capture the very faint nebulosity.

Image details

Total Integration time 7.5 Hours

Location: DownUnderObservatory, Fremont, MI

H-Alpha 150 min, 10 x 15 min bin 1x1

OIII 150 min, 10 x 15 min bin 1x1

SII 150 min, 10 x 15 min bin 1x1

QHY11 monochrome CCD cooled to -20C

Takahashi E-180 F2.8 Astrograph

Paramount GT-1100S German Equatorial Mount

Image Acquisition Maxim DL

Stacking and Calibrating: CCDStack

Post Processing Photoshop CS5

Containing many components such as The Eastern & Western Veil Nebulae NGC6960, NGC6992, NGC6995, IC1340, Pickerings Triangle, NGC6974 and NGC6979. Cygnus Loop is a supernova remnant, the expanding cloud of diverse elements created in the most powerful of explosions; a supernova.

As a Massive star nears the end of its life, it runs out of hydrogen fuel and begins fusing helium. After exhausting its supply of helium it begins to fuse heavier elements until finally, the star's core can no longer exert enough outward pressure and it collapses. A shock wave rebounds through the star so fierce that the star is shredded and leaves behind a small but extremely dense body; either a neutron star or a black hole.

The progenitor of this supernova remnant exploded more than 5,000 years ago and over the course of the past 5 millennia, the material has been racing away in all directions. The Cygnus loop now occupies a vast region of sky, equal to 36 full moons!

A Supernova seeds the interstellar medium with all types of heavy elements. In fact, every single atom of elements heavier than iron was created in this type of event, including many in your own body.