Explanation:
Explore a beautiful and complex region of nebulae strewn along
the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy
in this widefield skyscape.
The image emphasizes cosmic gas clouds in a 25 by 25 degree view centered
on the Northern Cross, the famous
asterism
in the constellation Cygnus.
Bright, hot, supergiant
star Deneb
at the top of the cross,
Sadr near the center, and beautiful
Albireo
run diagonally through the scene.
Popular telescopic tour destinations
such as the
North America and
Pelican emission regions, the
Butterfly
Nebula (IC 1318), and the
Crescent
and Veil nebulae
can be identified by placing your cursor over the image.
Silhouetted by the glowing
interstellar
clouds and crowded star
fields, the dark
Northern Coal Sack also stands out, part
of a series of obscuring dust clouds forming the
Great Rift in the Milky Way.
These Northern Cross nebulosities are all located about 2,000 light-years
away.
Along with the Sun, they lie within the
Orion
spiral arm of our galaxy.
