In my last image of the Iris Nebula which displays its beauty via the reflection of a nearby star, this image of NGC6820 highlights the characteristic of an emission nebula, whose clouds are ionized and actually emit (rather than reflect) light in the visible spectrum.  Also cataloged in the Sharpless catalog as Sh2-86, the clouds of this nebula benefit from the high energy received from the nearby blue star cluster NGC6823.  These powerful photons penetrate the clouds' hydrogen molecules which, when returning to their base state, emit a specific wavelength of light in the red spectrum (656.28 nm).  This characteristic is maximized in this image through a narrowband (12nm) Hα filter centered at this wavelength.

In my first composition ever containing a Hydrogen-alpha component, I was able to make a huge leap in exposure time with the narrowband filter with 30' subframes.  The addition of an RGB component (10' subexposures) presents color throughout the stars of the frame, and leaves us with a cloudy treat that sits about 6,000 light years from us.  Inclusion of the Hα component was an extremely enjoyable process and one on which I plan to continue to focus and improve.