NGC 7000 is the North American Nebula in the summer constellation Cygnus – the Swan. This is a Hydrogen II cloud whose H-alpha emissions are probably caused by young, hot stars forming in the nebula. Visually, this emission nebula spans as much sky as ten full moons. It has a relatively low surface luminosity but is readily visible in binoculars.
I posted an image of this object back in July. That image was comprised of fewer frames taken at a lower ISO which left the final image too dark and too blue. The image below consists of a stack of 69, 6-minute exposures taken through the 130mm astrograph fitted with a 4-band, narrowband filter. The H-alpha emission is in the red part of the visible spectrum – hence the reddish cast to the entire nebula. Along the lower edge, where Mexico would be, is a bright feature called the Cygnus Wall that is a very active star-forming region.
Off to the right of this frame is another large emission region that is often called The Pelican Nebula. I’m going to try to capture images of that region during the coming two nights.