Waid Observatory

Object: Gulf of Mexico In NGC 7000

Date: Aug. 29-30-31, 2018  -  Location: Davis Mountains west of Fort Davis, TX
Telescope: Stellarvue SV102ED  -  Mount: MI-250  -   Camera: ST-8300M
Exposure: SII = 180 min. Ha = 140 min. OIII = 240 min.
Exposure for Stars: R = 30 min. G & B = 25 min. each

Click on the image below to view at higher resolution.

  NGC 7000

 

The Gulf of Mexico in the North American Nebula1

The image above is of the southern portion of the North American Nebula.  (NGC7000) and is commonly known as the Gulf of Mexico.  The North American Nebula derives its name from its shape that resembles the continent of North America.  This large nebula is located in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan approximately 1,600 light-years from the Earth.  In the lower left of the image is a bright line of dust, gas, and mountainous columns known as the Cygnus Wall.  This feature defines the Mexican and Central America regions of the image.  The Cygnus Wall is an area of active star formation.  Many new stars are embedded in the dark clouds of the nebula and are not visible in optical light images.  They are revealed in infrared images and have been the subject of scientific research.  A major source of ionizing radiation illuminating NGC7000, as determined by recent infrared studies, is thought to be a massive O-type star located behind dense dust clouds and not visible in optical telescopes.

The image above is known as a mapped, or false, color image and was acquired using narrowband filters.  It was assembled using the standard Hubble palette with SII mapped to Red, Ha mapped to Green and OIII mapped to Blue.  The stars were overlaid with color data from a separate, near true color, RGB image.  It may be viewed here.

1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America_Nebula

 
Copyright Donald P. Waid