NGC7000 - Rift

Click the pic for a full resolution version

Object: NGC7000 Camera: Meade DSI Pro II
Date: 9/20/2008 Telescope: Meade 80mm ED refractor
Total Exposure: Ha - 60' Subexposures: 4 minutes each
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G Guiding: PHD - Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Location: West Boylston, MA Guide Scope: Orion Short Tube 80
Processing:
  • Nebulosity Processing:
    1. Dark/Flat frame calibration
    2. All exposures aligned/combined
  • Photoshop:
    1. Curves and Levels adjustments
Description:

NGC 7000 aka "The North American Nebula"

Perhaps discovered by William Herschel on October 24, 1786. Discovered by John Herschel before 1833.

This nebula is lying 3 degrees from bright Deneb, Alpha Cygni. Some people claim it may be visible to the naked eye under good, dark conditions, and a preferred object for amateur astrophotographers. The distance to the North America Nebula is estimated at 1,600 light years. The North America Nebula was perhaps detected by William Herschel who cataloged a "faint, extremely large, diffuse nebulosity" near its place under his catalog number H V.37. John Herschel definitely found it and cataloged it as h 2096 and later as GC 4621. It was first photographed by Max Wolf on December 12, 1890.

This image is as wide as I can go with my 80mm refractor and focal reducer. The field of view is limited by the size of the chip in my camera. However, I think it yeilds a nice level of detail in areas such as this. It also shows just how large this object is.