The Broom - 7 Years On

 The Witch's Broom

I remember the first time I imaged NGC 6960, but until I looked back through my previous posts, I hadn't appreciated that I did it a whopping 7 years ago.  Many a time I have observed it since then, using my 300p SkyWatcher dob, and also had the privilege of sharing the eyepiece with friends and strangers alike.

In my last post, I showed my recent image of a different area of the wider Veil Nebula and off the back of that, I decided to target the broom once again.

So much has happened in those 7 years in between.  I've continued to invest in the hobby and continued to learn as much as I possibly can.  My current imaging rig is now totally different except for the mount.  A new scope, filter selection, camera and processing software have all played their parts in helping me along my journey.

In my last post, I mentioned the new processing techniques I have been learning from Cuiv's YouTube channel and it was using those new processes on my last target that encouraged me to re-visit NGC 6960.  I can't believe how well the colours come out in the palette.  The blue seems electric, and the yellows and oranges seem to add some depth to the image.  Using the most recently learned techniques, and comparing the most recent image to that which I took all those years ago, I can now see so much more detail being teased out of the background, particularly around the immediate peripheral of the main part of the image.

The bright start in the centre of the image is 52 Cygni.  In the past, it's always seemed a distraction.  I recall struggling processing the image the first time around as the star was so blown out and so large that it detracted from the rest of the detail.  This time though, not so much I feel.  I think it still catches the eye, but quickly the blue shades steal your attention before you get lost into the finer details of the nebulosity.

2400 light years away, NGC 6960 - The Witch's Broom is the result of a star that went supernova between 10000 and 20000 years ago.  In the constellation of Cygnus, it is only one small portion of the Cygnus Loop.

What's next?

With darkening skies approaching, it won't be long before I will be able to start imaging on a more regular basis weather permitting!  I'm already starting to form a tick list for this imaging season but I also need to make sure I don't get carried away.  I'm going to start with 3 targets to image.  If I get those 3, then I'll move on to 5, then 10, then who knows?  But I think 3 is a good place to start for the coming weeks.  So here we go...

• Pickering's Triangle - Part of the Cygnus loop between the Eastern and Western parts of the Veil Nebula.  The only problem is knowing what to enter into the planetarium software to target it.  The NGC catalogue was completed before it was fully observed/noted and so it doesn't have an official NGC catalogue number, although some refer to it as NGC 6979
• The Flying Bat/The Squid Nebula SH2-129 - high in the sky in September/October near the constellation of Cepheus.  This will be a challenging target, rich in HA for the Flying Bat and OIII for the Squid.  I'll probably give this 3 hours initially and see what I can get before committing to adding more data if it's worth it.  I get the impression this target is usually the domain for massive light buckets and mono imagers, but you never know!
• The Bubble Nebula NGC 7635/C11 - Another nebula nestled in amongst the Milky Way.  It will be a repeat visit to this target for me.  Previous attempts have been OK, but it's been a long time since I imaged this last.  I just think that having learned about processing and using different equipment to capture the data, that there is so much more for me to get out of this little nebula.

That's it from me for this post.  The countdown is now on to the next clear night.  Sadly, I don't think it will arrive for at least the next 4 or 5 nights.  Maybe more! 😒