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Credit & Copyright: J-P Metsavainio
(Astro Anarchy)
Explanation:
In
brush strokes
of interstellar dust and glowing gas,
this beautiful skyscape is painted across the plane of our
Milky Way Galaxy
near the northern end of the Great Rift and
the constellation Cygnus the Swan.
Composed
over a decade
with 400 hours of image data, the broad mosaic spans an impressive
28x18 degrees across the sky.
Alpha star of Cygnus, bright, hot, supergiant
Deneb
lies at the left.
Crowded with stars and luminous gas clouds Cygnus is also home
to the dark, obscuring Northern Coal Sack Nebula and the
star forming emission regions NGC 7000,
the North America Nebula and
IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, just left and a little below Deneb.
Many other
nebulae
and star clusters are identifiable
throughout the cosmic scene.
Of course, Deneb itself is
also known to northern hemisphere skygazers for its place in two
asterisms,
marking a vertex of the
Summer Triangle,
the top of the
Northern Cross.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Cygnus
Publications with words: Cygnus
See also: