Images of the North America Nebula and facts about this continent-shaped cosmic cloud.
By Iain Todd
Published: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 15:07 PM
NGC 7000 is known as the North America Nebula due to its similarity in shape to the geographical outline of its namesake continent.
The North America Nebula is an emission nebula found in the Cygnus constellation, glowing due to the ionisation of interstellar gas caused by radiation being emitted by hot, young stars.
NGC 7000 is located 1,700 lightyears away and measures 100 lightyears across.
It is often pictured alongside IC 5070, a fellow emission nebula nicknamed the Pelican Nebula.
North America and Pelican Nebulae Srinivasan Ananthachari, Abudhabi and Razeen desert, Abu Dhabi, August–October 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED apo refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6R Pro mount
The North America Nebula was first observed by astronomer William Herschel in October 1786, and today it is a firm favourite of northern hemisphere observers.
Of all the nebulae that are named after objects they resemble – like the Cat’s Paw Nebula, the Rosette Nebula, the Pacman Nebula etc. – the North America Nebula is among those that most lives up to its nickname.
And considering there is also a California Nebula, it’s a pity for astronomers in the US that there isn’t a nebula named for each of the other 49 states!
And this is something to note. You may often see NGC 7000 erroneously named the ‘North American Nebula’, but this is incorrect!
It’s the North America Nebula, because it is shaped like North America, not because it belongs to North America!
A view of the North America Nebula captured by the Palomar Observatory’s 48-inch (1.2 meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope. Credit: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator & Digitized Sky Survey 2
How to see the North America Nebula
The North America Nebula is located in constellation Cygnus, and you can easily find it by locating the three stars of the Summer Triangle asterism.
Viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the leftmost star in the Summer Triangle is Deneb, in Cygnus.
And if you observe under very dark skies when your eyes have adapted to the darkness, to the left of Deneb you should be able to spot a large smudge about four times as wide as the Moon.
This is the North America Nebula. Observe it through a telescope and you’ll see that it does indeed resemble the continent of North America.
Images
Below is a selection of images of the North America Nebula captured by BBC Sky at Night Magazine readers and astrophotographers from around the world.
The North America Nebula, by Christopher Kelly-Brown, Strabane, Northern Ireland, 31 May 2022.Equipment: Nikon D5300 camera, Soligor 135mm lens at f/5.6, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount
The North America and Pelican Nebulae, by Richard Guest, Kingswinford, UK, 30 April – 15 June 2022.Equipment: ZWO ASI 2600MC camera, Celestron Evolution 8HD Edge, Hyperstar lens, IDAS NBZ high speed boost filter.
The North America NebulaClem Fischer, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, 30 April 2022Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, William Optics FLT91 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro mount
North America and Pelican Nebulae Srinivasan Ananthachari, Abudhabi and Razeen desert, Abu Dhabi, August–October 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED apo refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6R Pro mount
North America and Pelican Nebulae Neil Wyatt, Branston, Staffordshire, 20 and 21 July 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro mono camera, Sky-Watcher 130PDS Newtonian, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount
North America Nebula and Pelican NebulaePaul Moyers, Merseyside, 29 November 2019Equipment: Canon EOS 1200D DSLR, Altair Astro 60 EDF refractor, Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount
North America and Pelican Nebulae, Jenny King, Kent, 25 August–8 September 2019Equipment: QSI 690 CCD camera, TS Optics TSQ-71ED quadruplet flatfield refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6 mount
The North America Nebula Paul Gordon, Rochford, 22 July 2019. Equipment: Canon EOS 60Da DSLR camera, Borg 77EDII refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount.
The North America NebulaReza Hakimi, Moomej, Iran, 10, 11 July 2018Equipment: ZWO ASI1600MM-C camera, Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 lens
The North America Nebula Emil Andronic, Pontarfynach, Bushey, 5, 18 – 20 April 2019. Equipment: Canon EOS 700D DSLR camera, Samyang 135mm lens, Sky-Watcher EQ3 GoTo mount.
North America Nebula Simon Hudson, May 2019, Cornwall. Equipment: QHY9S CCD, Lacerta 200/800 reflector, Celestron CGX mount.
NGC 7000 by Chris Heapy, Macclesfield, UK. Equipment: Televue NP127is, Moravian G4-16000, 10-Micron GM2000HPS-II, Chroma 3nM, Ha, OIII, SII
North America Nebula by James Robertson, UK. Equipment: Canon 750d modified, Skywatcher Esprit 80ed, Celestron AVX mount
North America and Pelican Nebulae by Jeff Tobak, London, UK. Equipment: WO ZS 71, Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro, Atik 383L , Orion autoguider, SharpSky, PhD.
North America Nebula (section of) and Cygnus Wall – NGC7000 by Alastair Woodward, Derby, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher 6″ Newtonian, EQ3-2 mount with RA DEC motors, Unmodded Canon 350d, CLS clip filter, DSS for stacking
NGC 7000 The Cygnus Wall by Chris Heapy, Macclesfield, UK. Equipment: TeleVue NP127is, 0.8x reducer,Losmandy G11, Gemini L.4, Atik490EX, TeleVue Pronto, Lodestar
NGC7000 North America Nebula by Mark Griffith, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. Equipment: Telescope service 8″ Boren simon power newtonian, Skywatcher NEQ6 pro mount,Atik 383L camera, motorised filter wheel and Astronomik filters.
North America and Pelican by Lee Housden, Essex, UK. Equipment: Celestron CPC 800, SkyWatcher 80mm Apo, QHY10 OSC.
North America and Pelican Nebulae by Kevin Gurney, Port Punay, nr La Rochelle, France. Equipment: William Optics Star 71, Canon 600D (modified), Astrotrac TT320X-AG with pier, wedge and counterweight, IDAS LPS D1 filter
