IC5146, THE COCOON NEBULA on 2023-08-11
This photo was taken in Kyle, Texas, under Bortle 5.9 skies, through a 6-inch f/4 Telescope, on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount, with a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. Plus an Optolong L Pro Light Polution Filter. The total image acquisition time is: 02 hrs 09 min 00 sec. The processing was done with PixInsight. Full Size View Full size files are very large and can take a minute to download. After downloading the full-size picture to zoom in or out on a computer hold down the Ctrl key and use the scroll mouse button, or you can press the + or - key.
IC5146, also known as The Cocoon Nebula, in Cepheus is a small and faint star cluster listed in the Index Catalogue (IC). The IC is a supplement to the New General Catalogue (NGC) that lists deep sky objects discovered between 1888 and 1907. They tend to be very faint, which is why many of them were not discovered sooner. This star cluster is embedded in a glowing patch of gas known as the Cocoon Nebula. You may also notice that the stars thin out very close and around the nebula. The dark nebula B168, which is made up of dust, is blocking out much of the star light coming from behind it. The star cluster IC5146 is quite young, with the bright star near its center being only about 100,000 years old. The cluster and nebula are about 4,000 light years away from the Earth.
