Here’s a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location! This emission nebula is famous partly because it resembles Earth’s continent of North America. This emission nebula measures about 90 light-years from north to south, and is located about 2590 light-years away. The nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a very dark location. It is still unknown which star or stars ionize the red-glowing hydrogen gas.

The North America Nebula covers a region more than ten times the area of the full moon, but its surface brightness is low, so normally it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under sufficiently dark skies.

The North American Nebula is a 2 panel mosaic with SV130 f/6.6 & QSI 683wsg. Processed using StarXTerminator.

Integration time is as follows:

L – 10 min x 15; RGB of 5 min x 10 each for each panel.