            APOD: 2017 December 1 - North America and the Pelican

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2017 December 1
                                      [2]
                        North America and the Pelican
                Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Paolo Moroni [4]

Explanation: Fans of our fair planet [5] might recognize the outlines of these
cosmic clouds [6] . On the left, bright emission outlined by dark, obscuring
dust lanes seems to trace a continental shape, lending the popular name North
America Nebula [7]  to the emission region cataloged as NGC 7000. To the
right, just off the North America Nebula's east coast, is IC 5070, whose
profile suggests the Pelican Nebula [8] . The two bright nebulae are about
1,500 light-years away, part of the same large and complex [9]  star forming
region, almost as nearby as the better-known Orion Nebula. At that distance,
the 6 degree wide field of view would span 150 light-years. This careful
cosmic portrait [10]  uses narrow band images [11] to highlight the bright
ionization fronts [12]  and the characteristic red glow from atomic hydrogen
gas. These nebulae can be seen [13]  with binoculars from a dark location.
Look northeast [14]  of bright star Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus the
Swan.

                    Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend [15]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [27] (MTU [28] ) & Jerry Bonnell [29]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1712/NGC7000_PaoloMoroni.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] https://www.astrobin.com/users/PaoloMoroni/
  [5] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
  [6] http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/nebclust.html
  [7] http://oneminuteastronomer.com/6507/north-america-nebula/
  [8] ap161119.html
  [9] http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0201373
  [10] https://www.astrobin.com/320117/?nc=user
  [11] ap060324.html
  [12] ap100819.html
  [13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKUuAM3zDY
  [14] ap101119.html
  [15] ap171202.html
  [16] ap171130.html
  [17] archivepix.html
  [18] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [19] lib/aptree.html
  [20] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [21] calendar/allyears.html
  [22] /apod.rss
  [23] lib/edlinks.html
  [24] lib/about_apod.html
  [25] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=171201
  [26] ap171202.html
  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [28] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [29] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [30] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [31] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [32] http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [33] http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [34] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [35] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [36] http://www.mtu.edu/
