Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

cygnus

A Deep-Sky Vista and the Dark Nebula Le Gentil 3

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The North America Nebula (lower left) and IC1396 (upper right). The dark form of Le Gentil 3 lies just right and below center in this image.

Every picture tells a story, and this wide-field image of the northern Milky Way in Cygnus and Cepheus, which spans nearly 16º on each edge, surely has a lot going on.

To the upper right of this image, you see the blossom-like emission nebula IC1396 in Cepheus with the aging red-orange star μ Cephei, the ‘Garnet Star’, on its limb. Plenty of stars are forming within this stellar nursery.

At the upper left, you see the tiny blossom of the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146), another stellar nursery at the end of a two-degree-long dark nebula Barnard 168, both set in a rich field of background stars.

Moving down the left side of the image you see more nebulosity culminating in the unmistakable North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the neighbouring Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) below, both of which encompass more active regions of star formation. Various patches of dark dust and distant star clouds, especially the square formation above NGC 7000 also lie within this wide view, as does the bright star Deneb at the tail of Cygnus, the Swan.

But the showpiece of this image is notable for its lack of light. Just right and below centre you see the vast and irregular void of a cloud of gas and interstellar dust known as Le Gentil 3 that comprises an immense conglomeration of star-making material in the early stages of giving birth to dozens of new star clusters.

[Read more…] about A Deep-Sky Vista and the Dark Nebula Le Gentil 3

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The Cygnus Star Cloud

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The constellations Cygnus and Lyra and the northern Milky Way and Great Rift. The Cygnus Star Cloud lies in a diagonal near center, with Deneb and the North America Nebula at upper left and Vega at upper right. Sadr and IC1318 lie to the left and above center. Image credit and copyright: Brian Ventrudo/CosmicPursuits.com.

As northern summer nights grow longer in August and September, the big constellation Cygnus lies nearly overhead before midnight and offers dozens of colorful nebulae and star clusters for visual observers and astrophotographers. The newly discovered Radcliffe Wave begins here. So does the dark and dusty Great Rift that splits the band of Milky Way in two. Cygnus also contains the brightest section of the northern Milky Way in the grand Cygnus Star Cloud, the most prominent star cloud north of the celestial equator. With a pair of low-power binoculars or with just your dark-adapted eyes, this billowing collection of millions of stars along an arm of our galaxy offers as beautiful a sight as any earthly work of art or nature [Read more…] about The Cygnus Star Cloud

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Deep Sky Tour: Nebulae in Cygnus

by Joe Bergeron Filed Under: Deep Sky

The North America Nebula (left) and the Pelican Nebula (right). Image credit: Terry Hancock via Flickr.

In my previous sky tour, I talked up the virtues of observing deep sky objects using fairly high magnifications with a reasonably big 8-inch f/10 telescope. This time around, let’s veer to the opposite extreme and take a tour of a series of celestial objects that are best seen using small telescopes, low magnifications, and wide fields of view.

Cygnus, the Swan, which is as emblematic of northern-hemisphere summer as any other constellation, holds two of the best examples of wide-field objects which are visible nearly overhead in late northern summer, and low over the northern horizon for southern-hemisphere observers [Read more…] about Deep Sky Tour: Nebulae in Cygnus

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The Blinking Planetary Nebula

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Blinking Planetary Nebula NGC 68226 (with additional processing by Judy Schmidt)
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Blinking Planetary Nebula NGC 6826 (with additional processing by Judy Schmidt)

While the Milky Way along the backbone of the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, offers many fine targets for stargazers, the wings of the constellation are also well worth exploring, especially in the months of July through October when the constellation lies near the meridian. In this short tour, let’s tiptoe through the western wing of the Swan and inspect the remarkable Blinking Planetary, NGC 6826, and a few more intriguing deep-sky objects [Read more…] about The Blinking Planetary Nebula

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Touring the Backbone of Cygnus, the Swan

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The Milky Way through the constellation Cygnus. The dark cloud bisecting the Milky Way is the Great Rift.
The Milky Way through the constellation Cygnus. The dark cloud bisecting the Milky Way is the Great Rift.

In the late days of northern summer, the constellation Cygnus lies nearly overhead in the mid-evening hours. A long, conspicuous constellation, Cygnus stretches along the diffuse arc of the Milky Way and is packed full of lovely deep-sky objects for stargazers of all skill levels.

Cygnus is an ancient star group and goes back at least 2,000 years. In Greek legend, Cygnus was a friend of Phaeton, the son of Helios, the Sun god. Phaeton met his demise while foolishly trying to drive his father’s sun-chariot across the sky. When Phaeton fell into the river Eridanus, Cygnus begged Zeus to turn him into a swan so he could fly down to retrieve his friend’s body. In doing so, however, he gave up his immortality. Zeus was touched by the selfless act of Cygnus in honoring his friend, so he cast the swan in a place of honor in the night sky [Read more…] about Touring the Backbone of Cygnus, the Swan

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