The Nord America, Pelican and Crescent nebulae, with Deneb, Sadr: a breathtaking view.
The region of the sky dominated by Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus (the Swan), is among the most spectacular ones, once imaged with the right instruments, under a dark sky, with plenty of gems emerging from the deep space. Here it is a memorable view we captured of that spot of heaven, full of beauty and elegance.
The North America and Pelican nebulae, Deneb, IC 1318, Sadr. and the Crescent nebula.
The image above comes from the combination of 30, 120-second exposures, remotely taken on 1 Sept. 2024 with the Samyang 135+Paramount ME+ZWO ASI 6200MC Pro robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project facility in Manciano, Italy. The covered field of view is of 15 x 10 square degrees. The lens worked at f/2.4, under dark skies.
The frames were carefully processed by the DeepLab team as part of a long term collaboration and the resulting image is honestly mind-blowing.
The area is dominated by the bright star Deneb (alpha Cygni), a blue supergiant located at about 2000 light years: its luminosity is between 60.000 and 200.000 times that of the Sun, the large interval coming from the uncertainty on its real distance from us. On its left, the legendary “North America” nebula (NGC 7000) really stands out, associated with the “Pelican” nebula (IC 5070) at its very right. This H-II (ionized hydrogen) complex is located at about 1800 light years from us.
Moving on the bottom right, we see Sadr (gamma Cygni), another outstanding star: placed at about 1800 light years from the Earth, it has a radius 150 times larger and a luminosity 30.0000 higher than the Sun.
At the bottom right corner, the “Crescent” emission nebula (NGC 6888) is clearly visible because of its unquestionable shape. The nebula is originated by the stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136, close to its center. Its distance is estimated in 5000 light years.
All around, a rich nebular complex and interstellar dusts make the vision out of this word.
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