Here's a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location! This emission nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America. To the right of the North America Nebula [ http://www.seds.org…], cataloged as NGC 7000 [ http://aspsky.org/n…], is a less luminous Pelican Nebula [ http://voltaire.csu…]. The two emission nebula [ http://www.seds.org…] measure about 50 light-years across, are located about 1500 light-years [ http://www.treasure…] away, and are separated by a dark absorption [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] cloud. The nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location. Look for a small nebular patch [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] north-east of bright star Deneb [ http://www.astro.wi…] in the constellation of Cygnus [ http://www.astro.wi…]. It is still unknown which star or stars ionize the red-glowing hydrogen [ http://pearl1.lanl.…] gas.
Explanation
Here's a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location! This emission nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America. To the right of the North America Nebula [ http://www.seds.org…], cataloged as NGC 7000 [ http://aspsky.org/n…], is a less luminous Pelican Nebula [ http://voltaire.csu…]. The two emission nebula [ http://www.seds.org…] measure about 50 light-years across, are located about 1500 light-years [ http://www.treasure…] away, and are separated by a dark absorption [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] cloud. The nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location. Look for a small nebular patch [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] north-east of bright star Deneb [ http://www.astro.wi…] in the constellation of Cygnus [ http://www.astro.wi…]. It is still unknown which star or stars ionize the red-glowing hydrogen [ http://pearl1.lanl.…] gas.
