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Scope: Megrez II 80 mm at f/4.8, Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA 26 July, 2008, Camera: Artemis285
Exposure: 8 x 8 min H-Alpha (1x1), 9 x 4 min IR/UV Block (1x1), 8 x 4 min RGB Exposures (1x1).
Processing: Images were captured with Artemis Capture (as FITs). Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart with Sigma Combine. H-Alpha, IR/UV Block, and Color channels were scaled and color balanced in Astroart. Channels were co-registered in Astroart. Luminance construction consisted of the H-Alpha exposure; the IR/UV block exposures were used to enhance faint stars and non-H-Alpha regions. Curves and Levels applied in Photoshop to the Luminance construction to optimize object features. Final LRGB combine was done in Photoshop using Luminance Layering in LAB color Space. My RGB filters are not well balanced for OIII crossover so a percentage of Blue was lightened to the Green channel for nebula areas. A light background noise reduction was applied in PixInsight LE (SBNR). Final Image size is approximately 1392x1040.
North is to the left in this image. This object is known as the Network Nebula, but it is really part of a larger object that is a supernova remnant. The super nova remnant is sometimes referred to as the Cygnus Loop. The supernova was estimated to have exploded about 20,000 years ago, The supernova remnant is estimated to be about 2,600 light years distant from Earth. This image replaces an earlier image that can be seen in the Archives here. Horizontal FOV is 80'
Image center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 20h 56m 25s Dec: +31°23'12"