Astrophoto: The Sadr Region by Matthew Dieterich

By Nancy Atkinson - September 19, 2011 at 6:03 AM UTC | Milky Way
Sadr-Region-by-Matthew-Dieterich.jpg

[/caption] Poor sky condition is just one of the challenges astrophotographers encounter when taking a shot of astronomical bodies and events. But this did not stop Matthew Dieterich from capturing a great image of the the central region of the constellation Cygnus, also known as the Sadr Region.

"Sky conditions were very poor, high humidity and poor transparency mixed with severe light pollution caused difficult color, which is still present in this final image," Matthew said

on his website

. He took the image from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This wide-field image around the star Sadr (middle right of the image) shows the diffuse emission nebula surrounding Sadr or Gamma Cygni (also known as IC 1318). Sadr lies at an estimated distance of 1,500 light years from Earth. Throughout the image is emission nebulae (seen as the red) and dark nebulae (seen as the dark black filamentous regions).

Matthew explained that "the emission nebulae are dominated by hydrogen gas that when excited by electromagnetic radiation emits the color red. On the other hand, the dark nebulae are composed of dust and gas, which due to the density of these objects blocks the light from passing through them, so we observe them as black clouds."

He also provided us with the camera and equipment specs he used:

Image details: 30 x 2 minutes unguided ISO 800 Mount: Astrotroniks performance tuned Atlas EQ-G Optics: 8" Powernewt Astrograph at F/2.8 Camera: Modified Canon Xsi Calibration: Dark and flat frames applied in ImagesPlus Aligned and combined in ImagesPlus with final processing in Photoshop

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com