Objects: 1. SH2 101, The Tulip Nebula, 2. HDE 226868/Cygnus X-1 Binary System, 3. Cygnus X1 Bow Shock
Constellation: Cygnus
Exposure:
OSC (Stars Only): 34 x 30s = 17 minutes
OIII-Ha (NBZ-II): 196 x 150s = 8.17 Hours
SII (Baader HS 6.5 nm): 383 x 150s = 15.96 Hours
Total Integration: 24.13 Hours (Plus 17 min for stars)
Bortle scale: 4
Optics: Celestron EdgeHD 800 w/ HyperStar v4 @f/1.9
Camera: ASI2600MCP
Mount: ZWO AM5
Software: PixInsight, Xterminators, Seti Astro Scripts
Notes: There are a lot of objects in this image, including SH2 101 - The Tulip Nebula, Barnard 144 - The Fish on the Platter Nebula, NGC 6871 - Open Cluster, plus numerous other Dark Nebulae, clusters, etc... But the real reason I have wanted to capture a good image of this area for a long time is to capture the Cygnus X-1 Bow Shock and the HDE 226868/Cygnus X1 Binary System.
HDE 226868 is a Blue Supergiant Star with a companion separated by only 0.2 AU. This companion, and x-ray source discovered in 1964 and known as Cygnus X-1, is estimated to have a mass of about 21 solar masses, yet has no visible spectrum, which is why it is suspected to be a black hole. A stellar wind from the supergiant forms an accretion disk around the companion which is heated to millions of degrees which generates X-Rays and a pair of relativistic jets. These jets interact with gas in the interstellar medium, forming the blue Bow Shock that we can observe.
This image was processed in the FORAXX palette, generated with the Seti Astro Perfect Palette Picker, and I used masks to make the blues bluer and the reds redder.
rtwood42
