An earlier Crescent Nebula frame from June 2020, kept for comparison with the later 2021 revision.
- What am I looking at?
- The Crescent Nebula is a shell of gas blown by a Wolf-Rayet star colliding with slower material it ejected earlier.
- How far away is it?
- About 5,000 light-years away.
- Where is it in the sky?
- In Cygnus, in the summer Milky Way near the star Sadr.
- Why does it matter?
- Shows the violent winds of a massive star sculpting its surroundings.
- When is the best time to photograph it?
- Summer when Cygnus is overhead.
Capture summary
Nebula in Cygnus
OSC narrowband
OSC narrowband
Summer target / wide composition
- L-Pro 3h 50m 50 exposures
- Totals 3h 50m
Same target, different years.
Older revisions stay in the archive so you can see how the target changed with different equipment, processing, and experience.
When to image this target
Nebula in Cygnus; best planned for June through August from New Jersey.
Summer targets often improve later at night as the Milky Way climbs higher.
Assumes a New Jersey backyard horizon and evening imaging.
Emission nebulae are good candidates for narrowband filters; reflection nebulae prefer darker skies.
NGC 6888 is listed here in Cygnus.
Current frame: Natural and narrowband blend / OSC narrowband.
Live altitude, moon, and filter guidance
Calculating target altitude and moon context.
Use the full planner to enter a ZIP code, choose a date, and compare the target from your sky.
Based on the current time.
Green marks usable dark-sky altitude.
Next upper transit.
Approximate horizon crossing.
Moon phase and altitude.
Acquisition & processing notes
Filter channels, integration times, and capture dates for this frame. View on AstroBin.
- Optolong L-Pro 2 21 x 240s, 29 x 300s, 3h 49m
Field notes for this target.
Browse all capture notesHow I captured this
| Channel | Frames | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Optolong L-Pro 2 | 21 x 240s, 29 x 300s | 3h 49m |
- Equipment used
- From my current rig
- Mount
- iOptron CEM60
- Telescope
- Explore Scientific FCD100 127mm Carbon Fiber Triplet APO
- Camera
- ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Filters
- Chroma 36mm Ha, OIII, SII, and LRGB (ZWO EFW 7×36mm)
- Focuser / rotator
- MoonLite NiteCrawler
- Reducer
- Starizona Apex ED 0.65×
- Guiding
- ZWO off-axis guider + ASI290MM Mini
- Control / power
- PrimaLuceLab Eagle 4S, Powerwerx PSU, Bioenno field battery, and MEGAbox
