The Crescent Nebula is about 25 light-years across blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. Visible within the nebula, NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years.
The nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away. (Source: NASA)
I am revisiting this target almost exactly two years later. Initially, I wanted to compare the results between the RC8 (current scope) and the
EHD8. But it didn't end up an apple to apple comparison. The cameras are also different (294MM vs 1600MM) as well as the filter bandpasses (3nm vs 6nm). What ended up being the common point between the two images is the human behind the machine, although slightly evolved.
Comments and feedback are always appreciated. Clear skies fellow astrophotographers.
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