I call this picture The Giant Space Comma.  It’s generally called the Eastern Veil Nebula and cataloged as Caldwell 33.  It is one side of a supernova remnant called the Cygnus Loop.  The supernova occurred 10,000 – 20,000 years ago, and our distant ancestors would have been able to see it in the daytime.  It is 2400 light years away from us, and the whole loop has a radius of 65 light years and is expanding.  

Part of the nebula looks like a cow’s head to me.  Can you see it?  I call it the Space Cow.

The images above show what happened as I added data to the image.  The first one is my favorite version, with 3 nights and 12.1 hours of data, followed by the results from 1 night and 3.2 hours of data, the results from 2 nights and 7.45 hours of data, and 4 nights and 16.1 hours of data.  Which do you like best?

I think of all the astroimages I have made so far, this one is the most amazing.  

I’m looking forward to finding more cool things in the sky!

Camera geek info:

• Canon EOS 60D in manual mode, 1 minute exposure, ISO 800
• Intervalometer
• Williams Optics Zenith Star 73 III APO telescope
• Williams Optics Flat 73A
• SkyTech 2” LPRO-MAX CCD Filter
• iOptron CEM40
• Friendswood, Texas Bortle 7-8 suburban skies

Frames:

• August 17, 2023
  • Run 1 
    • 194 1 minute lights
    • 30 0.03 second flats
    • 30 0.03 second flat darks
• August 18, 2023 
  • Run 2
    • 86 1 minute lights
    • 30 0.03 second flats
    • 30 0.03 second flat darks
  • Run 3
    • 167 1 minute lights
    • 30 0.03 second flats
    • 31 0.03 second flat darks
• August 26, 2023
  • Run 4
    • 278 1 minute lights
    • 30 0.03 second flats
    • 30 0.03 second flat darks
• August 30, 2023 
  • Run 5
    • 103 1 minute lights
    • 32 0.03 second flats
    • 30 0.03 second flat darks
  • Run 6
    • 137 1 minute lights
    • 30 0.03 second flats
    • 30 0.03 second flat darks

Processing geek info:

• PixInsight
• BlurXterminator
• NoiseXterminator
• StarXTerminator
• Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch