This is a wide field view of the North America and Pelican nebulae as taken from my 10 panel mosaic.

The two that are actually one

This is a wide field view of the North America and Pelican nebulae as taken from my 10 panel mosaic. It captures a vast expanse of “local” space within our Milky Way just 2,590 lightyears away and measuring more than 140 lightyears across. In wide field, it becomes apparent that these two nebulae are actually part of one massive pool of ionized interstellar gas that is giving birth to thousands of stars systems, but which appears split in two by a massive tract of dark dust that sits in the foreground between the Earth and this target.

Amazingly, the entire region is being ionized by the brilliant radiation of a single star. Can you guess which one? It is tough because it sits behind the dark foreground dust causing our view of it to be deeply attenuated. I’ll share a marked image tomorrow that shows exactly where it is, but wanted to share this beautiful view with you in the meantime.

I hope you like it and have a great day!