This is a CCD image of the North America Nebula. This emission nebula is located in the constellation Cygnus near the star Deneb. The nebula is part of an instellar cloud of ionized hydrogen gas that appears red in long exposure photographs due to the reddish color of the hydrogen-alpha emission line. The hot star that is illuminating the nebula appears as a dim spot off of the coast of "Florida" in this image. Until recently, the identitiy of that star remained a mystery, but in the fall of 2004, a paper published by Fernando Comeron and Anna Pasquali appears to have identified the star that illuminates the nebula. The star's light is obscured by interstellar dust so that it very dim in visible light, but it was identified by observing at infrared wavelengths. The Pelican Nebula is also partially visible at the top of the image.
This is an LRGB color composite image taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 180ED telescope at f2.8 using an SBIG STL-11000M CCD.
NGC 7000
Constellation: Cygnus
RA: 20h 58m 50s Dec: +44d 31' 00" (J2000)
February 24, March 16 & 23, and June
21, 2009
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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