Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  34 Cyg)  ·  34 P Cyg  ·  37 Cyg)  ·  37 gam Cyg  ·  40 Cyg  ·  B343  ·  B344  ·  B347  ·  Crescent Nebula  ·  LBN 203  ·  LBN 206  ·  LBN 208  ·  LBN 209  ·  LBN 212  ·  LBN 215  ·  LBN 223  ·  LBN 224  ·  LBN 234  ·  LBN 236  ·  LBN 240  ·  LBN 241  ·  LBN 245  ·  LBN 249  ·  LBN 253  ·  LBN 257  ·  LBN 258  ·  LDN 876  ·  LDN 877  ·  LDN 878  ·  LDN 879  ·  And 25 more.
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Sadr to Crescent - Mosaic - IC1318, LDN889, NGC6910, M29, NGC6888, PN G75.5+1.7, Mau_Bard
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Sadr to Crescent - Mosaic - IC1318, LDN889, NGC6910, M29, NGC6888, PN G75.5+1.7

Revision title: V2.1

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Sadr to Crescent - Mosaic - IC1318, LDN889, NGC6910, M29, NGC6888, PN G75.5+1.7, Mau_Bard
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Sadr to Crescent - Mosaic - IC1318, LDN889, NGC6910, M29, NGC6888, PN G75.5+1.7

Revision title: V2.1

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Description

This Swan Complex is so interesting that I added diagonally a second panel to my previous Sadr Region image, in order to get a wider view including the Crescent Nebula, M29 and the Soap Bubble Planetary Nebula.
This gave me the opportunity to brush my rusty mosaic-making skills out.

SHORT IMAGE DESCRIPTION

Just up-left of the image center, we see the huge star Sadr, located approximately 1800 light years from us.
In the background, east/left of Sadr and much further away of it, at 5000 light years, are the two bright regions IC 1319 C and B (LBN 245 and 249) split by the dark band LDN 889, that lies at the same distance.
North-East of Sadr we can see the open cluster NGC 6910, while south is clearly visible M29.
The crescent nebula with its faint neighbor Soap Bubble Nebula are to be located in the lower right hand corner; previously I imaged them together with a longer focal here and here.
The ones with good eyes can have a look to the planetary nebula PK 076+01.1, just above LBN212 (center-bottom of the image), that, notwithstanding the short focal, shows some little detail and color.

SADR

Gamma Cygni (γ Cygni, abbreviated Gamma Cyg, γ Cyg), officially named Sadr., is the central star of the Cygnus cross.
Based upon parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately 1,800 light-years (560 parsecs) from the Sun.
In the catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi al Mouakket, this star was designated Sadr al Dedjadjet, (صدر الدجاجة / ṣadr al-dajājati), which means the chest of the hen. In modern terms, we can say that is the chest of the swan (Cygnus=swan).

Compared to the Sun this is an enormous star, with 12 times the Sun's mass and about 150 times the Sun's radius. It is emitting over 33,000 times as much energy as the Sun. Massive stars such as this consume their nuclear fuel much more rapidly than the Sun, so the estimated age of this star is only about 12 million years old, comapred to the 4.6 billion years of the Sun.

SWAN MOLECULAR CLOUD COMPLEX

What we see in the background is mainly IC 1318, that is part of the Swan Molecular Cloud Complex (also known simply as the Swan Complex ). At an estimated distance of 5000 light years, the Swan Complex is the largest known molecular nebulous complex in the Milky Way; inside there are several H II regions , vast and brilliant stellar associations , open clusters and a large number of the brightest stars in our Galaxy.

The most notable structure of the complex is known by the catalog number Sh2 -109 (see the wonderful Picture 1, by Roberto Mura); it is a vast set, extended for hundreds of light years , of H II regions ionized by very bright stars, thickened in the various OB associations present in this area of ​​the sky.

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Picture 1: Map of Sh2-109 - Author: Roberto Mura - Permission: CC-BY-SA 3.0 - Source: Wikimedia Commons


The region is located on the border between the Arm of Orion (Picture 2) , in which our solar system is located , and the Arm of Perseus; the complex would still be in an early phase of its evolution, as evidenced by the presence of some extremely young and concentrated open clusters with bright and massive stellar components. In the most remote part of the region, connected with one of the OB associations of the area, is the well-known Cygnus X-1 object, an X- ray source considered by many to be a black hole that sucks up the matter of its companion star, a blue super-giant.

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Picture 2: Milky Way's Orion Arm Detail - Author: Roberto Mura - Permission: CC-BY-SA 3.0 - Source: Wikimedia Commons
The lower part of the picture is pointing to the center of Milky Way.


To know more about the complex, please consult the comprehensive Wikipedia entry (in Italian, you can easily translate it with an online translator) https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complesso_nebuloso_molecolare_del_Cigno

To locate Picture 2 in the overall Milky Way structure, see Picture 3. Please note that Picture 3 is rotated 180 degrees compared to Picture 2.


Picture 3: Map of the Milky Way Galaxy. Author: Pablo Carlos Budassi - Permissions: CC BY-SA 4.0 - Source: Wikimedia Commons

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