EAA – 06/18/2022 – Some Nebula in Cygnus and a few other things…

Last night the sky was mostly clear. It was also a bit cooler than it has been in the last couple weeks, once the Sun went down it cooled to the low 70s pretty quick and was in the mid-60s when I packed up. The humidity was low as well. A very nice night for some EAA observing. It has been a bit since we have had a clear sky and I was hoping to get a few more Messiers, but that did not work out. I did a lot of looking around in the constellation Cygnus, a lot of interesting stuff to see there.

Once the Sun set I did a visual polar alignment and then focused with the Ekos focus module. I did my focusing at bin 1×1 and I was able to get much better focus. Tested plate solving and Ekos plate solving is calculating my focal length at 569.9 mm with a focal ratio of F/5.6. I am reusing my flats and darks from my EAA session earlier in the month.

These EAA images were capture with my ZWO ASI294MC Pro through my SVBONY SV503 102ED scope with 0.8 Focal Reducer and a SVBONY IR/UV Cut filter. The images were live stacked using SharpCap Pro. The mount and cameras are remotely controlled with KStars/Ekos/INDI running on an Astroberry Raspberry Pi. The images have been resized and/or cropped for file size but otherwise appear just as I observed them.

NGC 6910 is an open cluster in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 60 x 10 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
NGC 6910 - Open Cluster - EAA Capture 06/18/2022

NGC 6914 a reflection nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 30 x 10 second exposures and 20 x 15 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
NGC 6914 - Reflection Nebula - EAA Capture 06/18/2022
It is faint but NGC 6914 is right in the middle of the FOV. You can just make out the faint cloudy nebula around the two yellow stars in the center of the FOV.

NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula, in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 60 x 15 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
NGC 6888 - The Crescent Nebula - EAA Capture 06/18/2022
I visited NGC 6888 in my last EAA session for the CloudyNight’s June 2022 EAA observing challenge. I think my focus is a little better than it was in the last session. There is some nice color and detail in this capture. Very cool object object to observe.

IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 60 x 15 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula - EAA Capture 06/18/2022
I had a look at IC 5070 during an EAA session in late May. I was able to resolve a bit more detail last night, still not sure I see the Pelican but there is some more detail in the Nebula than in my previous observation. The open cluster NGC 6989 is in the top right corner of the FOV.

NGC 6992, the Eastern Veil Nebula, in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 60 x 15 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
NGC 6992 - The Eastern Veil Nebula - EAA Capture 06/18/2022
NGC 6992, NGC 6995, and IC 1340 make up this supernova remnant and all are visible in the FOV starting with NGC 6992 in the center and then moving left to NGC 6995, and then IC 1340. These along with other parts of the Veil Nebula make up the Cygnus Loop. This was my favorite observation of the night.

I made a couple of attempts at M6 and M62 but I had issues with trees and some high thin clouds in the SE. I am probably going to have to move my scope to a different part of the yard to be able to get these. It is just past midnight now on 06/19/2022 (Happy Father’s Day!).

Since I was in the area I had a peak at M16, the Eagle Nebula, in the constellation of Serpens. This is a live stack of 40 x 15 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
M16 - The Eagle Nebula - EAA Capture 06/19/2022
Some nice detail in the “Pillars of Creation” region.

I made another try at M62, but there were still some thin clouds, so back to Cygnus to look around a bit more.

NGC 6979 is a supernova remnant and part of the Veil Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. This is a live stack of 20 x 15 second exposures and 30 x 20 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
NGC 6979 - Super Nova Remnant - Veil Nebula - EAA Capture 06/19/2022
Much fainter than other parts of the Veil Nebula but still resolvable. NGC 6979 is in the center of the FOV and NGC 6974 is up and to the left of NGC 6979.

IC 4685 is an emission nebula in the constellation of Sagittarius. This is a live stack of 30 x 20 second exposures at 121 gain, bin 2×2.
IC 4685 - Emission Nebula - EAA Capture 06/19/2022
Several other nebulous regions are in the FOV including NGC 6559, IC 1274, IC 1275, and the open cluster NGC 6546. Below is the SharpCap Deep Sky Annotation to help sort them all out.
IC 4685 - Emission Nebula with Annotation - EAA Capture 06/19/2022

I made one last attempt to pick up a new Messier, M70, but was unsuccessful. I tried M6, M62, M70, M55, and M54 but had issues with clouds, trees, or the garage. I am probably going to have to move my scope to a different part of the yard or move to a different site to pick up these Messiers that are very low in the southern sky.

I packed things in at around 1:15 AM on 06/19/2022. A nice night EAA observing.

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