NGC 6914

NGC 6914
All Images Copyright Steve Cannistra

Please click here for a medium size image (70%).


Characteristics:
RA (J2000): 20h 24m 32s
Dec (J2000): 42 degrees 23' 08"
Position Angle (Pinpoint):  plus 77 degrees

Description:

NGC 6914 is a reflection nebula embedded within the diffuse emission nebulosity of the Cygnus region.  The region represents an immense collection of young stars, most of which are hidden by surrounding dust.  The blue reflection nebula to the right is known as NGC 6914A (vdB 131), and the one on the left is NGC 6914B (vdB 32).  I found this to be a difficult region to image with an 8" scope- it is a relatively faint area, and the detail within the reflection nebula is difficult to resolve at this aperture and image scale (1.14 "/pixel), especially given the typical seeing at my imaging site (around 3").  Here is what is achievable with a 20" aperture scope, and here is what can be captured with a 24" aperture scope, both obtained a dark sites with good seeing.  Rob Gendler provides a description of NGC 6914 here.

Photographic Details:
Date:  August 14 (Ha), August 15 (LRGB), 2009.
Scope: 
VC200L at f6.4 on the Takahashi NJP Mount.
Autoguider:  SBIG ST-402 with 60mm guidescope, focal length 227mm
Camera:  Apogee U32
Filter: 
Astronomik Ha (6 nm), type II RGB filters, clear filter for luminance.
Exposures:  Ha (8 x 20'); Lum (22 x 5'); R (6 x 8'); G (5 x 10'); B (7 x 15').  Total exposure time 7.9 hours.
Conditions:  Temperature 70 degrees F.
Post-processing: 
Calibrated, aligned, and Sigma Clip combined in Maxim, deconvolution in Maxim using Bob Vanderbei's Fat Tail Deconvolution script (3 iterations), followed by DDP in ImagesPlus (IP).  Further processing in Photoshop CS4 (16 bit format)

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