IC5146 - The Cocoon Nebula PROCESSING

IC 5146 consists of an emission nebula and an open cluster located approximately 2,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It has a diameter of about 15 light-years.

The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) was discovered by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard in 1893.
Barnard (1857–1923) was a pioneer in astrophotography and dark nebula studies. He later cataloged many dark clouds, including Barnard 168, the dark lane leading into the Cocoon.

Cocoon Nebula is located near the eastern edge of the constellation, close to the constellation Lacerta, right in the Milky Way, about one hour in right ascension from the North America Nebula. It is situated at the edge of the dark nebula Barnard 168.

Set up

C8 telescope at full focal length on an EQ6 R Pro mount
Zwo 533MC Pro camera for imaging
Zwo 220 mini camera for guiding via Celestron Off Axis Guider
Optolong L- Quad Filter

Camera cooling : -10°C
Gain (ISO) : 101

Control via Asiair Plus

Guiding was perfect and good conditions for imaging : 0.28"

The session

IC5146 (Cocoon Nebula) was taken on August 18th 2025
57 exposures of 5 minutes each
Total integration time : 4 h 45 minutes

Processing

Preprocessing & Processing with PixInsight

Procedure in video

Cocoon Nebula - Starless Version

Cocoon Nebula - Version with stars

Astrometry : Annotated Image

Clear Sky !

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