Waid Observatory

Object: IC 5068
Date: Sept. 29-30 Oct 1-3, 2018    Location: Davis Mountains west of Fort Davis, TX
Telescope: Stellarvue SV102ED   -   Camera: ST-8300M   -  Mount: MI-250
Exposure: SII = 340 min.  -  Ha = 260 min.  -  OIII = 400 min. - RGB for stars = 40 min. each
Click on the image below to view at higher resolution.

 

IC 5068

 

IC 5068 1

IC 5068 is an area of relatively faint emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus the Swan approximately 1600 light-years from the Earth.  It is located just south of the more famous, and frequently imaged, Pelican and North American nebulae.  Perhaps this is the reason it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers.  Actually, the bright central portion of the image carries the designation IC 5068.  The nebulosity to right and left side of IC 5068 are designated LBN 329 and 332.  The dark vertical bands of obscuring dust separate them from IC 5068

The image above is known as a mapped, or false color, image and was acquired using narrowband filters.  It was assembled using the standard Hubble palette with SII mapped to Red, Ha mapped to Green and OIII mapped to Blue.  The stars were overlaid with RGB data to give them a near true color appearance.  A near true color (HOO) image of IC 5067 may be viewed here.

1 https://www.nightsky.at/Photo/Neb/IC5068_WN.html

 
Copyright Donald P. Waid