Click here for full resolution image
This image is a two-frame mosaic stitching two frames taken with the same (rented) telescope, two years apart. This is an area in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, where huge amounts of excited hydrogen gas emit in its characteristic 656.3nm wavelength red light. The shape of NGC 7000 (on the left side) justifies its name of North America nebula. IC5070, the nebula on the right, is also called The Pelican Nebula.
This nebula is, if we refer to its magnitude, very bright, but its light is spread over a large area, and therefore, its surface brightness is very low, and not easy to image with enough quality. The zone that would correspond to the “Gulf of Mexico” is due to a dark nebula situated between the nebula itself and Earth.
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 7000, Caldwell 20, North America Nebula + IC5070, Pelican Nebula
Type: Emission Nebula
RA: 20h 58m 47s
Dec: +44º 20’ 00”
Constellation: Cygnus
Size (arcmin): 240×240
Magnitude: +4
Distance: 2,500 ly (not known precisely)
Image
Date: 2012-10-09 and 2014-08-24
Location: Mayhill, New Mexico, USA
Size (arcmin): 240×220
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ 106 f/5
Camera: SBIG STL11002M (4008x2672pix)
Guiding: not recorded
Total exposure: 7h10m (L: 110min; RGB: 320min)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CC 2016 and PixInsight