The prominent blue and green colors in this image are an emission nebula known as the Cygnus Wall. Part of a larger emission nebula with a distinctive shape popularly called The North America Nebula, the ridge spans about 10 light-years along an outline that suggests the western coast of Mexico. Constructed from narrowband image data, this image maps emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms to red, green, and blue colors. The brighter nebula is sculpted by energetic radiation from the region’s young, hot, massive stars and the dark shapes inhabiting the view are clouds of cool gas and dust with stars likely forming within. The North America Nebula itself, NGC 7000, is about 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

I took this image over 12 2/3 hours (20 images of Hydrogen Alpha, 9 images of SII Sulfur and 9 images of OIII Oxygen of 20 minutes each).