NGC 281, affectionately referred to as the Pacman Nebula, is an emission nebula at an estimated distance of ~9200 light years, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -20C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Ha: 41 x 360 secs ( 4 hrs 6 mins) OIII: 37 x 360 secs (3 hrs 42 mins) SII: 40 x 360 secs (4 hrs) Red: 24 x 30 secs (12 mins) Green: 22 x 30 secs (11 mins) Blue: 23 x 30 secs (11 mins 30 secs) 12 hrs 22 mins 30 secs total Dark Frames: 10 x 60 secs, RGB (30 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs) Bias Frames 100 Flat Frames 20 each filter More details from Wikipedia: NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way's Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184,[3] spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin.[4] A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us.[5] Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Edward Emerson Barnard discovered the nebula in August 1883, describing it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." Multiple star 'B 1' or β 1 was later discovered by S. W. Burnham, whose bright component is identified as the highly luminous O6 spectral class star, HD 5005 or HIP 4121. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 arcsec. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measures were made in 1875.
This region of the sky, in the approximate middle of the constellation Cygnus, is brimming with clouds of ionized hydrogen. In this image I have located the bright star Sadr just out of the field of view to the lower right, and highlighted a butterfly shaped section of the nebula. But truthfully, it is hard to point to this section of the sky without getting some interesting and captivating shapes in your field of view. This was imaged in RGB and Hα, with the Hα mixed in to the red channel to add some sharpness and detail. In retrospect, I might have also captured OIII and made a 'proper' bi-color narrowband image out of this as well. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Innovations Foresight ONAG Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Hα: 39 x 600 secs (6 hrs 30 mins) Red:22 x 30 secs (11 mins) Green:22 x 30 secs (11 mins) Blue: 22 x 30 secs (11 mins) 7 hrs 3 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 180 secs, RGB (30 mins) 10 x 600 secs, Hα(1 hr 40 mins) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 20 each filter Here is some more detail from Wikipedia: The Sadr Region (also known as IC 1318 or the Gamma Cygni Nebula) is the diffuse emission nebula surrounding Sadr (γ Cygni) at the center of Cygnus's cross. The Sadr Region is one of the surrounding nebulous regions; others include the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. It contains many dark nebulae in addition to the emission diffuse nebulae. Sadr itself has approximately a magnitude of 2.2. The nebulous regions around the region are also fairly bright.
Here is a famous object, called the Pelican Nebula (even though I think it looks more like a Pterodactyl :) ). This object is frequently imaged along with the North America Nebula, which is a brighter area of nebulosity out of the frame to the left and above. This is shot in narrowband and mixed using the SHO palette. Extra data was taken in the 2 fainter narrowband channels (OIII and SII) to mitigate noise. The stars were added from a very small amount of RGB data. The data was taken unguided. Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C Camera @ -15C and Gain:200 Offset:50 Software Bisque MyT Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph Refractor, 580mm @ f/5.8 Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8 Lightroom CC Photoshop CC Innovations Foresight SkyGuard Light Frames: Ha: 62 x 360 secs (6 hrs 12 mins) OIII: 81 x 360 secs (8 hrs 06 mins) SII: 84 x 360 secs (8 hrs 24 mins) Red:16 x 30 secs (8 mins) Green:16 x 30 secs (8 mins) Blue: 16 x 30 secs (8 mins) 23 hrs 06 mins total Dark Frames: 10 x 30 secs, RGB (5 mins) 10 x 360 secs, Ha,OIII,SII (3 hrs) Bias Frames 60 Flat Frames 20 each filter From Wikipedia: The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070 and IC 5067[1]) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name.[1] The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbor, the North America Nebula, by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican is much studied because it has a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.
