BACKYARD SPACE in JOHNSTON: The Bat Nebula, NGC 6992

By Lucas Maguire/Special to the Sun Rise
Posted 7/23/21

The Bat Nebula, also known as the Eastern Veil Nebula, is in the constellation Cygnus and is a large supernova remnant.

The rich Hydrogen alpha, Sulphur II and Oxygen III gas’s make it a …

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BACKYARD SPACE in JOHNSTON: The Bat Nebula, NGC 6992

Posted

The Bat Nebula, also known as the Eastern Veil Nebula, is in the constellation Cygnus and is a large supernova remnant.

The rich Hydrogen alpha, Sulphur II and Oxygen III gas’s make it a popular target for astrophotographers using narrowband filters.

The Eastern Veil nebula is only a part of that supernova remnant, The Cygnus Loop is an entire nebula region located within this constellation.

The supernova that created these ionized gas clouds was about 20 times more massive than our own Sun and has thought to have exploded 10,000- 20,000 years ago.

The nebula region is located about 1,400 light-years from Earth and covers an area in the sky about five times bigger than the moon!

The weather in Johnston has been very uncooperative for Astrophotography. Between the rain and clouds it’s tough to get a good night of imaging in.

I was only able to set up my telescope two times so far this month, but thankfully I was able to get some new data!

This Image was taken over the course of two imaging sessions. One with the Hydrogen- Alpha filter (Reds), and another with the Oxygen-III filter (Blues).

I combined these two channels into an RGB image using an astronomical editing software to bring out the nebulosity, details, and color. This image was taken from my backyard in Johnston.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lucas “Luc” Maguire captured this image from his backyard in Johnston. He will be submitting his deep space images to the Sun Rise for publication each week. Maguire’s photography can also be found at his Instagram account @oceanstateastro and his Twitter feed @OceanStateAstro.

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