IC1318 (Gamma Cygni area)

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About this Image

The mag 2 star Gamma-Cygni or Sadr in the center of this image lies in the center of the Swan constellation, embedded in emission nebulae. The distance to this area is estimated at approx. 1600 light years.
The nebula, which extends well beyond the borders of this image, is excited by young, hot blue-white stars and separated by dark nebulae into at least five major parts. The brightest of these parts is IC 1318, The bisected nebula region east (right) of Gamma Cygni which is named the Butterfly Nebula because of its two-winged appearance.
The open star cluster NGC 6910 is situated half a degree north (below) and slightly east of gamma-Cygni. This group consists of 66 stars of 10th magnitude and fainter. North is down.
Below you see a pure H-alpha monochrome image.

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Technical Details
Optics

105mm TMB refractor with flattener at f/6.5

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -20C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik H-alpha (15 nm) + RGB
Date H-alpha: May 11, 2004.
RGB: June 14, 2004
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5.5, high transparency, temperature 10-15 C, before dawn
Exposure Ha = 100 minutes (10-minute sub-exposures),
RGB= 15:15:15 min (5-minute sub-exposures)
all 1x1.
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL 4.0; Image calibration, aligning, mean stacking, DDP and color synthesis in ImagesPlus; Noise reduction by Neatimage;
Photoshop: H-alpha blended to red and L channel; size 19/35/60%;