Cave Nebula

The Cave Nebula, also designated IC-5146, is a reflection and emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The nebulosity is about 2,500 light years away.

Exposure  • 15½ hours (93 X 10 minutes) @ -20°C
 • Dusk flats
 • Camera position angle: 0°
Processing  • With PixInsight:
   ☞ Calibrate, star-align, and integrate subframes
   ☞ Background neutralization
   ☞ Histogram transformation
   ☞ Curve transformation
 • Noise reduction with Topaz DeNoise AI
 • Final tweaking and sizing in Photoshop CS6
Date and Location  • 2021: Sep. 29, Sep. 30, & Oct. 1
 • Louisa County, Virginia, USA
Equipment
 • TMB-130SS APO refractor @ f/7 on an A-P 1200 mount
 • ZWO ASI-1600MC Pro color camera
 • Guided with a ZWO ASI-120M camera on a 60mm f/5 scope
 • Imaging and autoguiding with MaxIm DL 6.20
 • Automated image acquisition with ACP Observatory Control


Updated May 23, 2023