The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. Cygnus is the home of numerous nebulas because it is in the plane of the Milky Way. It is high in the sky in late summer and fall.
This image was taken on September 8, 2023 using the Celestron XLT 150 scope on the OpenAstroMount. Stars aren’t really crisp since I was still getting things dialed in on this mount. Worthy of a second attempt someday!
Below is an an image with the Crescent Nebula with a wider field of view centered on the star Sadr, which is at the center of the constellation Cygnus. Denub is the bright star at the head of the Cygnus swan, Sadr is in the chest of the swan. The Crescent nebula is visible in the lower left hand corner of this image. This provides some perspective on where the Crescent nebula is and why there are so many famous nebulas in this constellation. Also worthy of note is that Messier 29, M29, a.k.a. the cooling tower open star cluster is visible in this image too. It is to the cluster of stars far to left of Sadr and slightly up in this image. Taken with the Samyang 135mm lens, ASI533MC on the OpenAstroTracker. Overall, this is actually better picture.
