NGC 7023 - The Iris Nebula 4th October 2008

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The Iris Nebula is located in the constellation of Cepheus. It is actually a large area of dark, dusty nebulosity stretching off to the right of this image. The light from a bright star reflects off the dust creating a lovely pattern of blue reflected nebulisty.

This picture is a tribute to the power of modern imaging equipment. I was trying out a new scope and sky conditions were so poor that I normally wouldn't have bothered. After a couple of hours the high cloud had thickened so much that nothing was showing at the end of the exposures so I had to end things there. Half the sub exposures were unusable. This may not be the greatest shot but I was really surprised to have anything at all.

Scope: 8" GSO F4 Newtonian

Camera: QHY8 with IDAS filter

Exposure details: 15x 240sec subs were useable.

Captured and combined in Maxim and processed in PS.