Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 18 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Gamma Cygni Nebula Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Min Xie, Chen Wu, Yizhou Zhang, and Benchu Tang Explanation: [5]Supergiant star Gamma Cygni is at the center of the Northern Cross. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, that famous [6]asterism flies high in northern summer night skies in the constellation [7]Cygnus the Swan. Known by the proper [8]name Sadr, Gamma Cygni also lies just below center in [9]this telescopic skyscape, with colors mapped from both broadband and narrowband image data. The field of view spans about 3 degrees (six Full Moons) on the sky and includes emission nebula IC 1318 and open star cluster NGC 6910. Filling the upper part of the frame and shaped like two glowing cosmic wings divided by a long dark dust lane, IC 1318's popular name is understandably the [10]Butterfly Nebula. Right of Gamma Cygni, are the young, still tightly grouped stars of NGC 6910. [11]The distance to Gamma Cygni is around 560 parsecs or 1,800 light-years. Estimates for IC 1318 and [12]NGC 6910 range from 2,000 to 5,000 light-years. Tomorrow's picture: don't crash __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2206/gamma-cygni-nebula-and-sadr.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/mxcoppell/ 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergiant 6. http://maps.seds.org/Const/asterism.html 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(constellation) 8. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sadr.html 9. https://www.astrobin.com/u6s6si/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210316.html 11. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1230/cosmic-distances/ 12. http://www.univie.ac.at/webda/cgi-bin/ocl_page.cgi?dirname=ngc6910 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220617.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220618 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220619.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/