NGC 7000
North America Nebula in Cygnus

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure =5-10-15 sec, Live Stacked frames = 20-20-30 (70 total), Gain = 70 of 250

The North America Nebula is a very large deep sky object, spanning 4 to 5 degrees in the sky; in this close-up view, we see only a small portion, the one in the area of “Mexico” and the American south-west. To the right of the main nebula, a distinctly dark inky-black dust cloud represents the “Gulf of Mexico,” with only a few stars sprinkled in front of it. At the bottom of the image a brighter emission portion with red-brown highlights juts into the landmass – this is the northern end of a structure known as the Cygnus Wall, a concentration of intense star formation. NGC 7000 is about 140 light years across and lies some 2600 light years away.

North at 10 o’clock, East at 7 o’clock

80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 10-25 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15-25 (40 total), Gain = 44 of 250

This image was taken with the 80mm scope to get a wider view (2 x 3 degrees) and a better perspective on the North America shape, with the dark “Gulf of Mexico” in the center. The brighter orange ridge visible in “Central America” is the Cygnus Wall, the north-eastern (left) end of which is the portion that is visible at the bottom of the previous image. The southern end of the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) is visible at top-right. There is a small cluster of stars above the “Gulf of Mexico,” approximately in the location of ‘Washington DC,” called NGC 6997 – various sources indicate this cluster is a couple of hundred light years beyond/behind the North America Nebula.

North at 10 o’clock, East at 7 o’clock