NGC 7000 (Caldwell 20) or North America Nebula
NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20 (also known as the North America Nebula) is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Cygnus. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 6 and its angular diameter is 120x100 arc-minutes. NGC 7000 lies at an estimated distance of 1800 light years. The Equinox 2000 coordinates are 20h 58.8m, +44° 20´ which makes NGC 7000 a Northern Hemisphere object that is best seen during the summer. The Caldwell Summer Star Chart shows the position of all Caldwell objects visible during that season. As one of the more famous objects in the Caldwell Catalog, it is commonly known as the North America Nebula.
The image above shows the uncropped view of NGC 7000 through the Takahashi Epsilon 180 Hyperbolic Astrograph (North is up). The red nebula to the right is known as the Pelican Nebula (IC5070 and IC5067 ).
The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than four times the size of the Full Moon. However, its surface brightness is low, so it cannot be seen with the unaided eye unless viewed from an exceptionally dark location. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under dark skies.
For images of NGC7000 through other telescopes or lenses, see More Views.
Wikipedia has additional information about NGC 7000.Visit the Caldwell Catalog Photo Gallery to see more deep sky objects from this catalog.
Technical Details
- Object: NGC 7000
- Other Names: Caldwell 20, North America Nebula
- Object Type: diffuse nebula
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 6, Angular Size = 120x100 arc-minutes
- Object Position (Equinox 2000): 20h 58.8m, +44° 20´, Constellation = Cygnus
- Date/Time: 2018 Oct 29 at 11:59 UTC
- Location: Bifrost Astronomical Observatory, Portal, AZ
- Mount: Astro-Physics 1100GTO German Equatorial Mount
- Telescope: Takahashi Epsilon 180 Hyperbolic Astrograph
- Field of View: 4.1° x 2.7° at 2.9 arc-sec/pixel
- Camera: Canon 6D
- Exposure: 20 x 300s, f/2.8, IE1600
- File Name: NGC7000-E180-1w.jpg
- Pre-Processing (Starry Sky Stacker): Calibrate with Flats, Align and Median Stack
- Processing (Photoshop CC): Curves, Masks
- Original Image Size: 3648 × 5472 pixels (20 MP); 12.2" x 18.2" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2018 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.
