Imaging the Cygnus Loop during Monsoon Season

Clear skies have been few and far between with monsoon season upon us here in the Phoenix Valley, but I got out to a dark site last night and had a couple hours with fairly clear skies and just a little moisture haze.

I love monsoon season with exception of the difficulty in finding a clear night for my hobby.  Our hot and dry summer in Gilbert, AZ comes down in temperature just a notch with some added humidity in late July.  With that moisture comes afternoon thunderstorms which can be quite impressive!  The air smells so good when that rain and lightning comes, its a clean desert fresh scent that makes me happy for some reason. This weather pattern was nonexistent where I grew up in southern California, so when we moved out here it was completely new to me.  Maybe that’s why I’m enthralled by it, but it hasn’t wore off yet 5 years later.

On this trip to a dark site about an hour outside of Phoenix, my target was the Cygnus Loop. This supernova remnant is huge, even in my wide field, I still can’t quite get it all.  To give some perspective, the labeled image shows how much of the sky the full moon would take up in this field of view.  The frame includes most of the areas features including the East Veil (NGC 6992 and NGC 6995), West Veil (NGC 6960), Pickering’s Triangle and Southeastern Knot.

In astronomy terms, this stuff is really close to us with current estimates around 1700 light years away.