Object Information                                            Imaging Details

NGC 7000, the North America Nebula, is a large diffuse nebula. It's about 1600 light years away and located in the constellation Cygnus. It's mostly emission nebulosity with a little reflection also present. The nebula spans roughly 2° x 3° making it one of the larger bright nebula in the night sky. The similarity to the continent is striking!

The nebula is visible through a telescope. Large apertures will show much of the structure. Smaller scopes will only show portions such as the bright 'Cygnus Wall'.

Color images were captured during a moderate wind (10-15 mph with gusts). Seeing was poor, and transparency was only so-so for the location. Next night my mount got funky and wouldn't stay on for more than 10-20 minutes at a time. I lost a great imaging night trying to fix the problem, then decided to get what I could the following night. Scope stayed on for 30+ minutes once and I manged to get four really good 5-minute unguided Ha subs. They were used as luminance and Ha channels.

Clicking the above image will bring up an image with a wider field of view.

Telescope:

Canon 300mm f/4 lens