North American and Pelican Nebula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico.

The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than four times the size of the full moon, but its surface brightness is low, so normally it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under sufficiently dark skies. However, using a UHC filter, which filters out some unwanted wavelengths of light, it can be seen without magnification under dark skies. Its prominent shape and especially its reddish color (from the hydrogen Hα emission line) show up only in photographs of the area.

The North America Nebula and the nearby Pelican Nebula, (IC 5070) are parts of the same interstellar cloud of ionized hydrogen (H II region).

The nebula was discovered by William Herschel on October 24, 1786, from Slough, England, or by his son John Herschel before 1833."

Date :  November 2010
Location : Backridge Observatory, Spruce Knob, West Virginia

Equipment used :
 Lens or telescope -- Nikon 180mm at f4
 Mount -- AP 1200
 Camera -- Canon Rebel 350D

Acquistion Software : ACP, MaxIm DL, Focusmax
Processing Software : MaxIm DL,  Photoshop

Exposure Detail : 20 exposures each 240sec ISO 800        Total hours 1.3