The North America Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. It is sometimes incorrectly called the "North American Nebula"
This image consist of 55 stacked images using Ha (Hydrogen Alpha); OIII (Oxygen III); SII (Sulphur II) filters and mapped to the Hubble Scope Colours. Processed in Photoshop CS5.
Integration Ha 5 Hours 10mins, Oiii and Sii 2 Hours each filter.
This image was taken over several nights of clear skies 19th/20th/21st September 2019, a total 9 Hours 10 Minutes.
The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than four times the size 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. However, using a UHC filter, which filters out some unwanted wavelengths of light, it can be seen without magnification under dark skies. Its prominent shape and especially its reddish colour (from the hydrogen Hα emission line) show up only in photographs of the area. The portion of the nebula resembling Mexico and Central America, The portion is known as the Cygnus Wall. This region exhibits the most concentrated star formation.
The nebula was discovered by William Herschel, from Slough, England, on October 24, 1786