The Dragon of Cygnus

[JimFox]

I see a Dragon, maybe no one else will.

This is a wider view of the Cygnus Wall which is part of the larger North American nebula. My focus was to go after the Cygnus Wall last night, which would require cropping. That's not a big deal with the ASI2600mc Pro, as it's super croppable. But what could have and maybe should have been a problem was the 94% moon, and even worse then that is the fact that in Southern California, I am probably sitting at Bortle 10. If you have been to Los Angeles, you know, it's hundreds of miles of lights. And imaging from my small patio here, there are streetlights and all sorts of other lights. But the Optolong L-Enhance filter did a great job of blocking out a lot of the Light Pollution. I was so desperate to do some Deep Space Astro, I was willing to try anything and any conditions.

Anyway, I hope your imagination is as good or crazy as mine and you can see the dragon in this.

60 - Lights at 300 secs with the Optolong L-Enhance Filter
30 - Flats
30 - Dark/Flats
10 - Darks

iOptron Gem28
ZWO ASI2600mc Pro
ZWO 120mm Mini - Guide Camera
Askar Fra500
Stacked in Pixinsight
BlurXterminator
NoiseXterminator
StarXterminator
Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop

All comments are welcome,

Jim

 

[AlanLichty]

I can definitely see your dragon - quite impressive. I am amazed you can get a result like this from inside of your area's light pollution.

 

[JimFox]

I can definitely see your dragon - quite impressive. I am amazed you can get a result like this from inside of your area's light pollution.

Thanks Alan. It sure wouldn't seem possible at all. I look up outside and it's a bright gray color. There are no stars to be seen. The background is so bright that on my Guide camera I have to turn it down from a normal 2 sec exposure to a half second exposure. If I don't, the stars just disappear into the sky.

And this is with using a Narrowband filter that is not very aggressive, it still has very wide band passes. I am looking to get one of the newer ones that really narrows the wavelength that it captures. That should result in even better data to work with.

 

[Comet Hunter]

Outstanding. I see it too. I always flip the image 180 deg but l like this orienting. Nicely done

 

[Alisa]

WOW this is cool I can also see the Dragon!

 

[Bill Richards]

Well done, Jim! And very impressive considering your environment.

 

[Andy Elliott]

Nice one Jim. I think I can see 2 dragons! I'm currently working on a couple more dragons in Cepheus

 

[Dan Moorehead]

Stunning

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

Firstly, easily recognizable as a dragon indeed. I do always identify this region immediately in any shot of the North America Nebula as it is very unique and recognizable and is one of those sky regions where the more you magnify it with higher focal length captures the more mesmerizing details reveal themselves.

This is quite a nice result, with small stars and wonderful color and detail in the nebulosity. Great work!

ML