This image was obtained KAO at the Sierra College Observing site by Dave Kenyon. The instrument used was a 20.3 cm reflecting telescope using an ST-7 digital camera in visible light. The image is four 5 minute exposures in red and green light and eight 5 minute exposures in blue light summed together. The image is projected from a telescope on to a flat screen and photographed with a camera. The dark spot on the sun is a sunspot.
Sunspots are magnetic storms which appear from time to time on the sun.
They appear darker because they are cooler than the surface of the sun. This one is about a dozen times the size of the earth. The nebula is considered to be the finest example of this type. This vast cloud of hydrogen and dust is forming stars, and contains enough material for over 10,000 stars. This image was obtained at KAO by Dave Kenyon at the Sierra College Observatory sight.