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Cygnus Wall and supergiant star 62 ξ Cygni
David Cruz · Astromidnight
In Cygnus, the Cygnus Wall: the bright ridge of gas in the North America Nebula, where stars are being born, cut through by clouds of dark dust. On the left shines orange ξ Cygni, a supergiant much closer to us than the nebula.
| Catalogue | NGC 7000 · Sh2-117 · LBN 373 |
| Type | Emission nebula |
| Distance | ≈ 2,600 light-years |
| Field | 137.8′ × 89.6′ |
| Real width | ≈ 103 × 67 light-years |
| Scale | 0.90″ / pixel |
| Orientation | −2° · north up |
| RA (centre) | 21h 02m 18s |
| DEC (centre) | +43° 42′ 19″ |
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Objects in field | NGC 7000 · Cygnus Wall · ξ Cyg · LDN 935 · 2 Barnard · 3 LBN |
Distance to the North America/Pelican complex from Gaia EDR3 parallax (Kuhn & Hillenbrand 2020, 785 ± 16 pc); older APODs give about 1,500 light-years. The real width assumes the Gaia distance; ξ Cyg is in the foreground. The position of the Cygnus Wall was marked by us on the image (it has no catalogue coordinates) and those of the LBN nebulae come from the AstroBin labels, so they are approximate. Bajamar, the star that lights the nebula, is just to the right, outside the frame.
16 h 40 min of light
Each tick is one exposure. 220 in total, with the camera at −10 °C and gain 100. Calibrated with 50 darks, 50 flats and 50 bias. The Moon stayed below 20 % illumination throughout.
TS-Optics 150mm/6" ONTC f/4 Newtonian (carbon tube)
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO AM5
ZWO ASI120MM Mini
TS-Optics Maxfield .95X Coma Corrector · ZWO EAF
Player One Anti-Halo Pro Dual-Band Ha+OIII Filter 2"
Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · ZWO ASIAIR
São Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Évora · 358 m
Bortle 3