Here's the constellation Lyra. And yes, there's over 1 million individual stars in the image (from an automated count on the uncompressed image). Unfortunately you won't be able to split many stars in the image, but with a bit of effort and knowing where to look, you'd be able to "see" the famous Ring nebula!

The brightest star in the image is Vega, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, with a 0.03 magnitude. It's also one of the vertexes of the famous Summer Triangle asterism.

Here's a small version with the Lyra asterism and star names:

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DATE June 1st, 2011 PHOTO Exposure: 12 panes mosaic, each of them being: L: 6 x 5', RGB: 6x3' each, Total: 16.8 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Mount: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS DARC Observatory Seeing: Good Transparency: Good SOFTWARE Calibration/Stacking: PixInsight Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop

Here is a 24 panes mosaic image covering the vast area "taken" by the well known Big Dipper in Ursa Major. possibly the most famous asterism in the Northern sky.

It was taken during 7 nights at DARC between May 25 and June 1st. It was the"first light" of my FSQ after cleaning the front lens. Processed with PixInsight, Registar (more as an auxiliary tool, not really on the data) and Photoshop.

I know it's not the typical "in your face" image, but there's something I like about these rarely seen (in photographs) "high res" vast fields, where not one single object captures your undivided attention. Also, as Wolfgang Promper said: It's the fact that it is a deep image and still you can relate to what you see when looking to the sky unaided.

As for the dusty background, as usual, I give a high percentage in its accuracy, but not necessarily for each and every single detail.

Surf around and find the "hidden" owl ;-)

Here's a small version with the asterism, star labels and also labels for all the Messier objects in the image:

I personally had a lot of fun doing things like finding Hickson 50 (it is there, just not an easy catch, and when you find it, it's just a blur!) and other objects (lots of cool NGCs and a few popular Messiers of course)...

I hope you enjoy it!

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DATE May 25~June 1st, 2011 PHOTO Exposure: 24 panes mosaic. Each pane is L: 4 x 5', RGB: 4x5' each, Total: 31.2 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6

EQUIPMENT Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Mount: EM-400

SITE & CONDITIONS DARC Observatory Seeing: Good Transparency: Good SOFTWARE Stacking: PixInsight Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop