2013/06/08 - The nights are very short this time of year, so I spent five nights gathering data of this nebula to get the brown color. It wasn't easy under a SQM 19.14-19.55 sky. Seeing was between 1.97" and 2.84".
The Iris Nebula, also NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158. It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across.
15 hours total exposure time
30x 600 sec. luminance unbinned
20x 600 sec. RGB unbinned
Image acquisition with CCDAutoPilot and Maxim DL
Auto-guiding with Maxim DL
Auto-focusing with FocusMax
