The Southern Crown

Full view for maximum effect.

The Southern Crown (Corona Australis)

Corona Australis (The Southern Crown) is a relatively small constellation. The stars which make up the constellation appear to form the shape of a slice of lemon near the "teapot" of Sagittarius. The star pattern is not as defined as its Northern Hemisphere cousin, Corona Borealis.

To the left of the dust cloud is NGC6726, NGC6727 and NGC6729 which are the blue reflection nebula objects. The fuzzy yellow patch to the left of the reflection nebulosity is the globular cluster NGC6723.

This composite consists of one set of images; one set of 30 images taken at ISO-1600.
Each individual image was a 60 second exposure.
IRIS was used to calibrate each image (dark subtraction [median combined master dark] and flat field division [median combined master flat {lights and darks}]), to register, align, and finally stack.
Photoshop CS2 was used to adjust levels, curves, frame and resize the final composite.

Target: The Southern Crown (Corona Australis)
Date: Sunday, August 20th, 2006
Time: First image: 12:00:13 AM
Time: Last image: 1:05:03 AM
Location: Kulnura, NSW, Australia
Camera: Canon EOS-20Da
Lens: Canon EF 200mm F/2.8L
Focal length: 200mm
Mount: Piggy-backed onto an 8" Meade LX90 LNT (F/10)
Alignment: Equatorial; via equatorial wedge
Exposure: 30 x 60 seconds @ ISO-1600 (RAW)
Software: IRIS: Calibration, registration, stacking; Adobe Photoshop CS2: post-processing and framing