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Cygnus, "The Swan," is one of the prominent summer constellations, and appears directly overhead from mid-northern latitudes. This region is filled with red nebulosity, apparent in this image.  At upper right are the North America and Pelican Nebulae. More red nebulosity can be seen around Gamma Cygni,  left of the center of the image. The supernova remnant comprising the Veil Nebula is visible in the lower left portion of the image.

Equipment: Nikkor 50mm/1.8 lens/STL-11000M/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/4 for luminance, f/2.8 for RGB
Exposures: L 11 x 2 minutes: R 11 x 2 minutes: G 11 x 2 minutes: B 11 x 2 minutes
Date: September 15, 2006
Location: Landers, California, USA
Technical Notes: A diffusion filter was used for three exposures for each channel to enhance the bright stars. Separate LRGB composites were created for the unfiltered and filtered images. The LRGB images were blended using the Lighten function in Photoshop CS2. Gradients were removed using Russell Croman's GradientXTerminator plug-in for Photoshop.