North America Nebula

120 ' x 100 '

NGC 7000

North America Nebula (also known as NGC 7000 ) is the name of a diffuse gas nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

Was named the fog because of its shape, which resembles a map of the North American continent. The Sky is the mist with 120 times 100 arcmin very broad ( the full moon has a diameter of about 30 '). It is relatively easy to find, as he just east of the bright star Deneb ( α Cygni ) is located in the Swan.

The gaseous nebula is between 2,000 and 3,000 light-years away (his exact distance is difficult to determine ) and mainly consists of hydrogen, which occurs partially in ionized form ( HII ) and emits visible light in the form of deep- red radiation. The fog appears therefore intensively reddish On long exposure photographs. The visual observation of the nebula is, however, quite difficult, despite its overall brightness of 6 mag. You need a completely dark, moonless sky which is not disturbed by any artificial light sources. The mist can then be perceived with a prism binoculars as a diffuse object.

The North America Nebula in 1891 was discovered by Max Wolf at his private observatory in Heidelberg with its 6 " double astrographs. The discovery was one of the first with the help of astrophotography.