North America Nebula

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1786 and its shape is vaguely visible under dark, transparent skies with the help of a nebula filter. However, the distinctive reddish color, due to hydrogen atoms emission and its prominent shape show up in photographs of the area, which is incredibly rich in hydrogen-alpha emission nebulosity (the nebulosity visible at lower left is part of the adjacent Pelican Nebula, IC 5070).

Interstellar dust between the nebula and the Earth absorbs some of the light of the nebula and is therefore responsible for the shape of the nebula that resembles that of North America. Images from Spitzer Space Telescope in the infrared have revealed that young, massive stars are hidden behind the dark dust clouds that form the \"Gulf of Mexico\" area and might be responsible for the radiation that excites the hydrogen atoms and makes the nebula to glow.

The distance to the nebula is estimated to be about 1800 light years and its diameter about 100 light years.

Image Details:

Telescope: Orion EON 80mm f/6.25 ED Apochromatic Refractor

Mount: MG-Astro modified Vixen Sphinx (NexSXW)

Camera: Canon EOS 20Da

Light frames: total 1 hour (10 x 6 min), ISO 1600, Daylight WB, no filter

Support frames: 6 Dark, 12 Bias

Guiding: Skywatcher 80/400 refractor w/ Skywatcher Synguider standalone autoguider

Date & Location: 21/10/2017 - Chalkidiki, Greece

Processing: DSS 4.1.0, Adobe Photoshop CS6