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A retired Welshman living in wonderful Plymouth in SW England, I’m a family man, novice sailor and boat builder, astrophotographer and motorhomer. With a passion for all things to do with education and the sea and skies above, I have a sense of adventure and innate curiosity. I write three blogs. ‘Arwen’s Meanderings’ charts my learning to sail a self-built John Welsford designed ‘Navigator’ yawl. Look out for her accompanying YouTube channel www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy . ‘UnderSouthWestSkies’ follows my learning journey as I take up astronomy and astrophotography; a blog for beginner’s new to these hobbies, just like me. ‘Wherenexthun’, a co-written blog with my wife Maggie, shares how we ‘newbies’ get to grips with owning ‘Bryony’ an ‘Autosleeper’s Broadway EB’ motorhome, and explores our adventures traveling the UK and other parts of Europe. Come participate in one or more of our blogs. Drop us a comment, pass on a tip, share a photo. I look forward to meeting you. Take care now and have fun. Steve (and Maggie)
Showing posts with label IC 1318. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IC 1318. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Imaging session - IC 1318 The Sadr region

 First visit to this astronomy/astrophotography blog? Well, firstly a warm welcome to you and thanks for stopping by. After reading this post, if you want to find out more about me and this blog, why not visit my introductory page at https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html  You can also browse other posts by using the search bar or the blog post list on the right hand side and I'd really like to hear from you via the comment boxes. Drop me a tip, an observation or a question. Take care and clear skies to you.  Steve 


The Sadr region, known as IC 1318 or the Gamma Cygni Nebula, is a diffuse emission nebula that surrounds the star Sadr.  Around 5000 light years away from Earth, the area also includes the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) and The Butterfly Nebula as well - which is really IC 1318. You can see a dark thin dust alley and then two glowing cosmic wings either side of it - hence 'The butterfly'. 

The nebulas glow comes from nearby stars releasing streams of charged particles known as stellar winds; these ionise the gases causing them to emit light. 

Sadr is a yellow-white supergiant with x12 the mass of our sun and x 150 its radius. It lies at the centre of this stunning Hydrogen II emission region. 

So, acquisition details? 

This is the result of two nights worth of data, processed in SIRIL and Affinity Photo. 

Equipment used: 

  • Astro-modded Canon 800D
  • Samyang 135mm F/2.8 lens
  • EQM-35-Pro mount
  • ASIair mini with RVO 32mm guide scope and ZWO 120mm mini guide cam
  • Optolong L-enHance filter clip in eos
Acquisition times:  on each night 

  • 35 x 240" subs
  • 10 darks
  • 10 biases
  • 20 flats 
I find post editing difficult. There is so much to learn and I am never sure whether I am getting the final image right in terms of tone and look at the end of it all! 

But, here are my three attempts thus far in the order I did them: 

alt="IC 1318 in the Sadr region"
So, this one is fairly good. I like it but I felt I could have done a slightly more aggressive black point adjustment to get the background sky darker; taking care not to blow out the stars

alt="More intensive colours in IC 1318"
😧From one extreme to another. Second go and I overcooked it - too much saturation, vibrance and contrast. Back to the drawing board! 

alt="Reduced star intensity image of sadr region, IC 1318"
And my third effort - a halfway house. Better sky, better colours, not oversaturated but lost the stars! 
Have I ever told you this post editing alarkey is hard work? 

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