Sharpless 135 and NGC 7261 in Cepheus

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2400x1800)

Scope: Explore Scientific MN152  Maksutov Newtonian at f/4.8, Location: Laguna Mountains, CA,   19 September 2014  Camera: ST8300M (Baader Ha (7nm) LRGB filters)

Exposure: Exposure: 8 x 9 min  (1x1 bin) Luminance exposure (IR/UV cut), 16 x 9 min  (2x2 bin) exposure with H-Alpha, 8 x 4.5 min (2x2 bin) RGB exposures.

Processing: Data Collection -  CCDSoft (as FITs).  Calibrated, stacked (Sigma Kappa Combine) in Deep Sky Stacker, L - RGB channel registration, equalization, central gradient removal - Astroart.  Color calibration with eXcalibrator. Curves, Levels, and Luminance development, RGB combine - Images Plus.   Finishing  - Photoshop. All processing was done on 2x2bin data after up-sampling to 1x1 bin equivalent (3352x2532). This image uses  H-Alpha and Luminance data for a luminosity layer.  Development was an LRGB combine with Luminance layering; Luminance channel created as described.  Saturation in LAB color.   Final Image size is approximately 3352x2532 resized to 2400x1800.

North is to the right in this image.  Sharpless 135 is also known as LBN 492. It is the overall emission (red) region dominating this field.  The three smaller emission nebulae seen in the lower right are (from left to right) LBN 486, LBN 489, and LBN 491.  On the left side of the image is the open cluster NGC 7261. There are Dark nebulae in the field (Dobashi  3275, 3277, 3278 and TGU H631); there is a notable variable star (V449 Cep) in the field. The annotated image identifies these different objects.  Horizontal FOV is 88'

Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 22h 20m 31s Dec: +58°45'05"

All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2014

Current Web Total Hits -