by Craig and Tammy Temple
The Wizard Nebula is a large, diffuse HII region in Cepheus associated
with the star cluster NGC7380. It is ionized by the binary star DH
Cephei. Stewart Sharpless cataloged this as object 142 in his 1959
catalog. This image is our first result using the Astronomik 6nm
H-Alpha filter. The waning gibbous Moon was at 86% illumination during
acquisition.
Telescope: Astro Tech AT8IN 8” f/4 Newtonian
Accessories: Baader MPCC
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider on William Optics ZS66
Camera: Self-modified Canon Digital Rebel XT
Filters: Astronomik 6nm H-Alpha EOS Clip
Exposure: 18 x 600s @ ISO 1600 (3hr.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.75 Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.75 – Calibrated, registered, Min-Max excluded averaged, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Gradient XTerminator; Noise Ninja
Date(s): November 5, 2009
Temperature(s): 46ºF (dropped to 36ºF)
SQM reading (begin - end): 18.61 – 18.07 mags./sq. Arcsec