Can you find Deadpool's head in the photo ...
Saturday night 6/28 was forecast to be cloudy up until midnight, then clear through dawn. The following night was forecast to be clear all night. Even though the Moon was in a waxing crescent phase and would set not long after the imaging session would start, I decided to go after a narrowband object. I set a sequence to capture NGC 7000 (The north America Nebula), IC 5070 (The Pelican Nebula), and some surrounding nebulosity.
I set up my wide field imaging rig Saturday night before
dark. The forecast was holding true. That's when the gremlins hit. Somewhere
between 10 PM and 11 PM, I fell asleep in my chair. I woke up at 12:30 AM and
went outside and the skies were clear. How much time had I wasted??!!! Polar
alignment and PHD2 calibration were completed without issue. After getting
focused and getting the camera rotation set, I slewed the scope to Zenith to
take flat frames. Somehow the Anti Dew feature in my imaging camera got turned
off on a very humid night. I had a large area of dew or frost in the center of
the frame. I lost about an hour figuring this out and correcting it. I finally
started imaging sequence, and the first sub downloaded from the camera at 1:45
AM. The sequence ran until 3:54 AM, when NINA parked the scope and warmed the
camera up. I covered the scope the next morning to protect it.
Sunday night was clear as predicted and I uncovered the
scope. I checked the polar alignment and got the camera cooled down at dark
(making sure the camera's anti dew heater was on). Once my target cleared the
trees, I started the imaging sequence in NINA. The first sub was downloaded
from the camera at 12:00 AM. The sequence ran until 3:50 AM. Although it got off
to a bumpy start, things ended up well. Here is the resulting image. Can you find Deadpool's head? Can't find it? There's a Hint in the "How to find it" section below.
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| The North America Nebula, Pelican Nebula, and Friends from my backyard on 6/28/2025 & 6/29/2025. |
Processing:
All pre and post processing was performed in PixInsight. Pre-Processing: All subs were visually inspected with Blink and subs with issues were removed. All light Frames, Flats, Darks and Dark flats were loaded into WBPP. Linear Post Processing: Background extraction was performed with GraXpert followed by BXT (correct only). SPCC was used for Color Calibration followed by a full application of BXT. The Stars were removed using StarXT. Starless Linear: Noise was reduced with NXT. The image was made non-linear with HT. Linear Stars: The stars were made non-linear with Seti Astro's Star Stretch Script.
Non-linear Post Processing: Starless: The Narrowband normalization Process was used to get the "HOO" look. Color, intensity, and contrast were adjusted with various applications of CT. Saturation was increased with CT. The Image blend Script was used to sharpen the image with a High Pass Filter. LHE was applied at 2 Kernel sizes and Unsharp mask was applied. The DSE script was used to enhance dark nebula regions. CT was used to increase contrast and The Create HDR script was used to compress some of the brighter regions of nebulosity. Stars: Saturation was increased with CT. SCNR was applied and the Correct Magenta Stars Script was used to help with stars captured with a dual narrowband filter. CT was used to adjust contrast one last time. Final: The Stars and Starless images were combined with Pixel Math to produce the final image.
What is it?
There's a lot going on in this image. I asked an AI tool to help,
and this is what it provided. Overall, it is pretty good. I did have to edit
some mistakes out. For example, the AI tool claimed the bright star Deneb (not
in the image) was responsible for ionizing the gas. Although this was thought
to be true in the past, by none other than Edwin Hubble himself, Deneb is too
far away and not hot enough.
NGC 7000 (North America Nebula)
This vast emission nebula in Cygnus spans over two degrees
of sky, roughly three times the diameter of the full Moon. Its name derives
from the striking resemblance to the North American continent, with the “Gulf
of Mexico” dark lane carved by interstellar dust. Located about 1,600
light-years away, it glows as hydrogen atoms are ionized by ultraviolet light
from nearby hot stars.
IC 5070 (Pelican Nebula)
Adjacent to NGC 7000, this emission nebula acquires its
nickname from the bird-like silhouette formed by dusty filaments and bright
gas. Also around 1,600 light-years distant, it shares the same massive H II
region and is energized by young, massive stars. Dark lanes outline the “beak”
and “body,” while bright ionized hydrogen gives the Pelican its luminous
appearance.
Other Cataloged Objects
|
Catalog |
Type |
Description |
|
NGC 6996 |
Open star cluster |
Loose grouping of a few dozen stars embedded in faint
nebulosity. |
|
NGC 6997 |
Open star cluster |
Richer cluster, slightly older, appearing as a tight knot
of yellow-white stars. |
|
NGC 7039 |
Open star cluster |
Sparse cluster with mixed-age stars set against the Milky
Way background. |
|
NGC 7044 |
Open star cluster |
Compact cluster with a handful of bright members, slightly
reddened by dust. |
|
NGC 7027 |
Planetary nebula |
Small, dense shell of ionized gas ejected by a dying
sun-like star. |
|
IC 5068 |
Emission nebula |
Fainter patch of ionized hydrogen, part of the extended
complex. |
Notable Stars
- 55 Cygni, 56 Cygni, 57 Cygni, 60 Cygni: Foreground stars that help define the field’s perspective.
- 62 ΞΎ Cygni and 68 A Cygni: Bright guidepost stars for framing the North America/Pelican region.
Whether you’re tracing the dark lanes or marveling at the glowing hydrogen, this region offers a textbook view of star formation and stellar evolution in our Galaxy.
 |
| An annotated version of the image. |
How Big is it?
NGC 7000 has a size of 120 x 100 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky and is about 90 light years across.
IC 5070 has a size of 80 x 70 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky and is about 30 light years across.
How Far is it?
NGC 7000 is located about 2,600 light-years (ly) in the Constellation Cygnus.
IC 5070 is located about 2,000 light-years (ly) in the Constellation Cygnus.
How to find it?
NGC 7000 and IC 5070 are objects that can be visually observed. A telescope/eyepiece combination with a large Field of View is required. Binoculars are an excellent choice, providing a very wide field of view. Dark skies and a nebula filter will also provide significant benefit. The region is very close (see finder chart below) to the bright star Deneb. Deneb is one of the three stars that comprise the Summer Triangle. It is also the tail of Cygnus the Swan and the top of the Northern Cross asterism.
Hint: To find Deadpool's head, look between the East Cost of the North America Nebula and the beak of the Pelican Nebula. Look for two eyes.
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| Finder Chart |
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