The constellation Cygnus ("The Swan") is prominent during summer evenings.  The brightest star in Cygnus is named Deneb, and it is one of the members of the so-called "Summer Triangle," consisting of Deneb, Vega (in the constellation Lyra) and Altair (in the constellation Acquila).  Cygnus is located along the Milky Way.  The north half of Cygnus is shown in the next image.

Figure 1.  Northern half of Cygnus.  Deneb is at the upper-left end of the constellation lines.  During the exposure a meteor went speeding downward, to the left of Deneb, through the middle of a reddish nebulosity called the North America Nebula.  [Nikon F3 camera with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens, attached to a Meade LX-200 10-inch telescope for tracking and hand guiding adjustments, 40-second exposure, cut short when I noticed the meteor in the guiding 'scope, Fujicolor Professional 400 NPH pushed to 800, May 23, 0020 PST, 3200-foot altitude observing site beside the East Camino Cielo Road, north of Santa Barbara].

Figure 2.  Zoom factor of 2.6, with the North America Nebula at the center, and Deneb to its right.  The color balance of this image is fairly accurate.  [Nikon F3 with a 105 mm f/4.5 lens, mounted to a Meade LX-200 10-inch telescope for tracking and hand guiding adjustments, average of two 6-minute exposures, Fujicolor Professional 400 NPH film pushed to ISO 800, May 23, 0040 PST, observing site along the East Camino Cielo Road, 3200 foot altitude, near Santa Barbara].

Figure 3.  Zoom factor of 2.2, using entirely different equipment and modest color contrast.  A Meade 416XTE CCD imager (B&W) was used with an Olympus telephoto lens, 75 mm FL, f/5.6, to obtain B&W images with red, green and blue gel filters placed in front of the telephoto lens.  Two 40-second exposures were used for the R, G & B images, and six 20-second exposures without any gel filter were used to create an L-image.  All exposures were made with a Meade HA-50 visible CCD filter in front of the 416XTE CCD (which blocks UV and IR, an essential precaution).  The RGB images were combined using MaxImDL, imported to PhotoShop and converted to Lab mode, and the L image copied and used to replace the Luminance image (in PhotoShop).  This is a complicated process, and the equipment is unusual, and after all the effort I don't recommend it!  Film is easier. [Olympus telephoto lens set to 75 mm FL, f/5.6, Meade 416XTE B&W CCD imager, RGB gel filters, guided by Meade LX200 10-inch SCT, residential site at 200 feet ASL near city lights of Santa Barbara, CA, 2001.08.10/11]

Figure 3.  Only modest zoom, but returning to film equipment for a very high contrast color balance.  Average of 8 photos, totaling 48 minutes of exposure.  Serious vignetting has not been corrected. [Nikon F3, 400mm FL, f/5.6, Fujicolor Superia Xtra 800, mounted to LX-200 for hand guiding, residential site at 200 feet ASL, 2001.06.27&28.]

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The following is an advanced amateur's version of this object:

Figure 3.  Jason Ware, a well-known amateur astrophotographer, took this picture of the North America Nebula (probably using a refractor telescope).  The nebulosity "off the East Coast" is the much fainter Pelican Nebula."  The brightness contrast must have been increased by an extreme amount to achieve the dramatic effect.

This site opened:  May 23, 2001.  Last Update:  Aug 11, 2001