Object: The Cygnus Wall. Sometimes, stars form in walls — bright walls of interstellar gas. In this vivid skyscape, stars are forming in the W-shaped ridge of emission known as the Cygnus Wall.
It is part of a larger emission nebula with a distinctive outline popularly called The North America Nebula, the cosmic ridge spans about 20 light-years. Constructed using narrowband data to highlight the telltale reddish glow from ionized hydrogen atoms recombining with electrons, the image mosaic follows an ionization front with fine details of dark, dusty forms in silhouette. Sculpted by energetic radiation from the region’s young, hot, massive stars, the dark shapes inhabiting the view are clouds of cool gas and dust with stars likely forming within. The North America Nebula itself, NGC 7000, is about 1,500 light-years away.
In this image, The Cynus Wall was imaged in narrowband to capture Ha, OIII, and SII emissions from the nebula and processed in the Hubble palette.
Taken: September 1, 2021
Telescope: Astro-Tech 14” RC with Starizona Apex-ED L 0.65x focal reducer
Mount: Paramount ME II
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro (cooled to 0C; Gain 100) Bin 1×1.
Guiding: ZWO ASI290MM-Mini with ZWO M68 Off-Axis Guider (OAG)
Focuser: Moonlite Nitecrawler
Rotator: Moonlite Nitecrawler
Filters used: Chroma Ha, OIII and SII 3nm filters with a ZWO 7-position Electronic Filter Wheel (EFW)
Exposures: 16×300 seconds Ha; 17×300 seconds OIII; and 18×300 seconds SII for a total exposure time of 4.25 hours; calibrated with 40 dark frames, 40 flat frames with 40 dark-flats.
Seeing Conditions:
Image capture and telescope control: Sequence Generator Pro and TheSkyX Pro with a SkyShed POD MAX observatory.
Processed with PixInsight, Photoshop CC 2023