NGC 6960 - The Cirrus Nebula in Cygnus

 

Copyright 2008 Hap Griffin

The Cirrus Nebula is the western portion of the much larger complex known as the Veil Nebula, seen in a wider view here.  It is part of a bubble of expanding gas and dust whose source was a supernova star that exploded in the distant past.  The nebula is also sometimes called the "Witch's Broom".  The bright star near the center of the nebula is 52 Cygni which actually lies much closer to us at a distance of 204 light years than the nebula itself at a distance of 1400 light years.




Date/Location:    August 8, 2008     Griffin/Hunter Observatory    Bethune, SC
Instrument:    Canon 40D (modified) Digital SLR through Orion 10" f/4.7 Newtonian w/ Baader MPCC 
Focal Ratio:   f/4.7
Guiding:    Auto through Takahashi FS-102 w/ SBIG ST-402
Conditions:    Visually clear
Weather:    72 F to 65 F, still
Exposure: 291 minutes @ ISO 800 (97 x 3 min exposures) 
Filters:    Baader UV/IR block internal to camera
Processing:    Focused, captured, RAW to TIFF conversion, frame calibrations, alignment, Digital Development in ImagesPlus v3.50a.  Final tweaking with Photoshop CS2.

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