Cepheus is one of the richest areas of the Milky way. It is filled with true wonders: nearby the galactic equator there are countless emission nebulae, while farther away there is a rich collection of reflection dusty patches, well represented by the VdB 142 complex. This wide field image capture the hearth of the Cepheus complex immediately north of the galactic equator (orange dotted line).
This was the first light of my small travelling wide-field astrograph and it is a HRGB composite. The Hα layer was crucial to bring out the full richness and extension of the soft Hydrogen glow. A finder map is displayed by rolling with the mouse over the image.
Canon 135mm f2.0 L series lens closed to f 2.8. STL 11000. Hα: 12x16'; RGB 7x8' each. 6 hrs of total integration.
Copyright © 2009 by Gimmi Ratto. (August 15, 2009)