NGC7000 - North America Nebula (Ha detail)  
Cygnus

Huge emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus		  
 
The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than ten 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 by the naked eye under dark skies. Its prominent shape and especially its reddish color (from the hydrogen Hα emission line) only show up in photographs of the area.

The North America Nebula and the nearby Pelican Nebula, (IC 5070) are in fact parts of the same interstellar cloud of ionized hydrogen (H II region). Between the Earth and the nebula complex lies a band of interstellar dust that absorbs the light of stars and nebulae behind it and thereby is responsible for the shape as we see it. The distance of the nebula complex is not precisely known, nor is the star responsible for ionizing the hydrogen so that it emits light. If the star inducing the ionization is Deneb, as some sources say, the nebula complex would be about 1800 light years distance, and its absolute size (6° apparent diameter on the sky) would be 100 light years.

This picture shows only the "west coast" of the nebula, presenting this peculiar shape I have called the buffalo head.		  
 
Technical details:  
Location:  
 Valdemorillo - Spain
Date:  
 24/08/2008 (dd/mm/yyyy)
Conditions:  
 Bad
Temperature:  
 20ºC
Humidity:  
 low
 
Telescope:  
 GSO Reflector 200mm f/4
Reducer/corrector:  
 Baader MPCC
Filter:  
 Baader Ha 7nm 2"
Mount:  
 Vixen GPD2 Autostar Meade
Camera:  
 Canon 350D no filter
Exposure:  
 6x600s@800iso
Guiding tube:  
 B&C 60/350 f7
Guiding camera:  
 Meade DSI Pro
Guiding software:  
 K3CCDTools
 
Procesing:  
 Noise was difficult to remove due to the high temperature this night, 20ºC. I have used some noise reduction tecniques in combination.  
Notes:  
  
     

 
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