The North America Nebula
Credit & Copyright:
Jason Ware
Here's a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location!
This
emission nebula
is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America.
To the right of the
North America Nebula, cataloged as
NGC 7000, is a less luminous
Pelican Nebula.
The two emission
nebula measure about 50 light-years across,
are located about 1500
light-years away, and are separated by a
dark absorption cloud.
The nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location.
Look for a
small nebular patch
north-east of bright star
Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus.
It is still unknown which star or stars
ionize the red-glowing
hydrogen gas.