Looking closely at the image that I shared yesterday of one of the most iconic nebulae of our summertime and fall skies, I investigated what star is responsible for ionizing the interstellar gas across this vast swath of local space. It was originally hypothesized by Edwin Hubble that it was Deneb, the bright blue star that you can see in the upper right of my image. However, scientists soon realized that Deneb is not “hot enough” to be the culprit.
It turns out that the star that is responsible is the one I have circled within this close up! It appears so dim simply because, from our vantage point on Earth, most of its light is being blocked by the dark cloud of dust that sits in the foreground between us and the star. It has been named Bajamar Star after the original name for the Bahamas which is “Islas de Bajamar”, which is right around where it is located off the “Florida coast” of the North America nebula.
Although the light from the Bajamar Star is dimmed by almost 10,000 times by the dark cloud that sits between Earth and it, you can still make it out in my image as shown here. If it weren’t being attenuated by the dust in this way, it would be as bright in our skies as the other major stars of Cygnus.
I hope you like it and have a great day!
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