In brush strokes of interstellar dust and glowing hydrogen gas, this
beautiful skyscape is painted across the plane of our Milky
Way Galaxy near the northern end of the Great Rift and the
constellation Cygnus the Swan.
Composed with three different telescopes and about 90 hours of image data the
widefield mosaic spans an impressive 24 degrees across the sky. Alpha star of
Cygnus, bright, hot, supergiant Deneb lies near
top center. Crowded with stars and luminous gas clouds Cygnus is also home to
the dark, obscuring Northern Coal Sack Nebula, extending from Deneb toward the
center of the view. The reddish glow of star forming regions NGC 7000,
the North America
Nebula and IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, are just left of Deneb.
The Veil Nebula is
a standout below and left of center. A supernova remnant, the Veil is some
1,400 light years away, but many other nebulae and star clusters are identifiable throughout
the cosmic scene. Of course, Deneb itself is also known to northern hemisphere
skygazers for its place in two asterisms —
marking the top of the Northern
Cross and a vertex of the Summer Triangle.
Image & info: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit & Copyright: Alistair Symon
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