Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Cocoon Nebula  ·  IC 5146
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula, Paul Huntley
IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula, Paul Huntley
IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Climbing high in northern summer night skies, it's located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. 

--NASA

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula, Paul Huntley