IC 5146 (also Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125, and the Cocoon Nebula) is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus. IC 5146 refers specifically to the nebula and Collinder 470 to the star cluster. It is located near the naked-eye star Pi Cygni, the open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta, and the bright open cluster M39. The cluster is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago. The nebula is about 12 arcmins across, which is equivalent to a span of 15 light years. (Narrative credit: Wikipedia)

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This image is a collaboration between my good friend, John Stuckmeyer, and myself. John acquired the Luminance and Red, Green, and Blue data at the dark skies of Ft. Griffin, TX. and the Hydrogen alpha data from his home in light polluted Irving, TX. John handles the acquisition so skillfully I was able to use all the exposure frames he made.

Dates:
September and November, 2012

Locations:
Ft. Griffin State Historic Site, Texas
Irving, Texas (Ha data)

Telescope:
RCOS 12.5 RC @ f/9 2800mm FL

Mount:
Astro-Physics 1200 guided by ST-10XME using the Remote Guide Head
Thru Hutech Off Axis Guider

Camera:
SBIG ST-10XME at prime focus with CFW8 using LRGB filters

Image Scale:
.5 arcsecs/pxl

Camera Control:
Maxim DL 4

Exposures:
Luminance - 210 mins; 1x1
Ha - 720 - mins; 1x1
Red(Ha 100% in nebula only) - 60 mins; 2x2
Green - 60 mins; 2x2
Blue(Ha 20% in nebula only) - 60 mins; 2x2

Exposure time:
18 hrs 30 mins

Processing:
CCDStack; Photoshop CS2