Gregg's Astronomy Page
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Gregg's Astronomy Page

Albert L. Ruppel Observatory

Updated:  Sunday, August 29, 2010

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Image of the Week (8/29/2010)

Clcik for full resolution

NGC 6914, vdB 131 & 132 Emission/reflection nebulae in Cygnus.   The small constellation Cygnus contains some of the brightest and largest emission nebulae in the Milky Way.  One of these is NGC 6914 which spans a swath of sky near the bright star Deneb.  Adjacent to the emission nebula is a series of reflection nebulae, denoted by their Van den Bergh (vdB) designations, 131 and 132.  These small knots of gas reflect light from hot young stars within the nebulae.  For additional information on this area see Rob Gendler's essay.  For another view see the image by Tom Davis.
This image  was made over several evenings from August 8-18, 2010 using an STL11000 camera on an ASA 10N Astrograph.  Five hours of Hα data was combined with 60 minutes of red and green, and 120 minutes of blue.  For just the Hα data click the thumbnail below.



 

 

This page illustrates what can be photographed using  amateur telescopes and a CCD camera.  I currently use an SBIG STL11000M camera and have previously used a SBIG and Starlight Xpress cameras, as well as a Cookbook 245 camera that I built myself. Most of the images were actually taken from my backyard near a busy street with several street lights. Not only is the CCD camera a great imaging tool, but it allows "real time" observation of objects not normally visible in areas with moderate-severe light pollution.

Visitor   ida_logo.gif (9871 bytes) International Dark Sky Association 

 

 

                                    All text and images © Gregg L. Ruppel 1998-2010.