This is a photo of the North American Nebula. The North American Nebula lies 3 degrees east of the bright star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus. At one time, this nebula was thought to be illuminated by, and at the same distance as, the star Deneb. That would place the nebula about 1,600 light-years away. It is now believed that the nebula is illuminated by a star whose light is obscured by interstellar dust so that it is almost invisible to us. The distance to the nebula is about 450 light-years, and its dimensions are about 13 light-years by 15 light-years. This nebula was discovered photographically by German astronomer Max Wolf in the early 1880's. The nebula has become brighter over the years, so that it can now be seen with relatively small telescopes, whereas 100 years ago it could only be detected with long exposure photography.
To the right of the North American Nebula is the Pelican Nebula.
This is a 30 minute guided exposure using a Takahashi Epsilon 250 telescope at f3.4. Guiding was accomplished using an SBIG ST-4 autoguider mounted on a 78mm Takahashi guidescope. This is a medium format shot, using Kodak PRO-100 color negative film.
NGC 7000 (the North American Nebula).
Constellation: Cygnus
RA:20h 58m 44.7s Dec:+44d 19' 27"
IC 5070 (the Pelican Nebula)
Constellation: Cygnus
RA:20h 50m 45.8s Dec:+44d 20' 34"
April 16, 1999
Photo by Sid Leach
Iola, Texas.
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