by Anthony Ayiomamitis
The expansive emission nebula NGC 7000, more commonly referred to as the North America nebula owing to its characteristic shape, is a large area of nebulosity lying to the immediate southeast of Deneb (α-Cyg) and is equivalent to about twelve full moons in apparent area. NGC 7000 is active in star formation and includes three clusters, namely NGC 6989 to the northwest, NGC 6996 to the north and NGC 6997 to the west. NGC 7000 lies at a distance of 2,200 light-years away and is estimated to span 100 light-years across. To its right and separated by a dark absorption cloud is the also expansive Pelican emission nebula (IC 5067 and IC 5070). Similarly, to its bottom right is the smaller emission nebula IC 5068. The North America nebula is best observed using low magnifications (50-100x) during mid-summer preferably under dark skies as it approaches zenith around midnight and using either a UHC or O-III filter. NGC 7000 was discovered by William Herschel in 1786.
Technical Details:
Date: July 17-18, 2010 @ 22:35 - 04:30 UT+3
Location: Athens, Greece (38.2997° N, 23.7430° E)
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106/f5, AP 1200GTO GEM, SBIG ST-10XME, SBIG CFW10, Baader 7nm H-a, SBIG LRGB filters
Integrations: HaRGB @ 320:80:80:80 using 10-/20-min subs, 1x1 binning, 2.65"/pixel, -10.0d C
Further details are available here.
The image above is a two-part mosaic. Due to light pollution, the RGB portion of the data involving one part of the two-part mosaic (upper half) was not blended with the Ha due to a light pollution gradient. The missing data will be reacquired next week.