NGC 7000 - the North America Nebula is an emission nebula in Cygnus. Also designated Caldwell 20, the nebula has low surface brightness and is located approximately 1600 light years away near one of the summer triangle stars, Deneb. The bright Cygnus Wall, the "west coast of Mexico and Central America" in the lower center of the image, is an area of star formation. The nearby Pelican Nebula - IC5070 (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpusatera/28152984624/sizes/l) is a part of the same nebulous region, but a band of dust between the nebula and earth contributes to the interesting shapes we see. Some theorize that Deneb is the source of the ionization of the nebula which was discovered by William Herschel on October 24, 1786.
NCG 6997 is an open cluster located in the top right of the image. Discovered by Herschel on the same night, it is probably not a part of the North America Nebula but there is some debate about whether it is in front of or behind the more famous nebula.
Acquisition:
Imaged on 11/20/16 from Lake St Louis, MO
Integration: 4 hours (LRGB)
Luminance: 12x600s @ 1x1 (120')
R/G/B: 8/8/8 x 300s @ 2x2 (40'/40'/40')
Equipment:
Scope: William Optics GTF 81 5 element refractor (535mm focal length)
Upgraded with Moonlite CF focuser with motor
Imager: QHY9Ms with Olivon OAG and QHYCFW2-s filter wheel
Guidecam: ASI120MM
Filters: Baader LRGB
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G
Processing and Software
Guiding with PHD2
Acquisition with Sequence Generator Pro
Integration and processing with PixInsight 1.8
NGC7000 North America Nebula:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpusatera/31379576656/sizes/lAnnotated image:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpusatera/31270941812/sizes/lAstrobin:
http://astrob.in/274778/0/
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