The North America Nebula in Cygnus | Palomar Observatory

The North America Nebula in Cygnus | Palomar Observatory

NGC 7000, also known as the North America Nebula, is a giant emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus at a distance of about 1,800 light years. This image is a composite from black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2 meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope in California as a part of the second National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two glass photographic plates—one sensitive to red light and the other to blue and later they were digitized. 

In order to produce the color image seen here a total of 62 different frames were processed with the European Space Agency/European Southern Observatory/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator by Italian amateur astronomer Davide De Martin—31 frames for each color band, coming from 4 different plates taken between 1990 and 1993. The original file is 14,264 x 15,429 pixels with a resolution of about 1 arc-second per pixel. The image covers an area of sky larger than 4› x 4.3› (for comparison, the Full Moon is about 0.5› in diameter).

Learn more about the Palomar Observatory and the Samuel Oschin Telescope:

https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/about/

https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/about/telescopes/oschin.html

Credit: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator & Digitized Sky Survey 2
Release Date: Aug. 8, 2005

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