12/12/2025
Here's my latest image of the North America Nebula taken own a recent moonless night from my back garden in Strathaven.
This image has 3 hours of exposure using narrowband filters.
The North America Nebula is an emission nebula found in the Cygnus constellation, glowing due to the ionisation of interstellar gas caused by radiation being emitted by hot, young stars.
NGC 7000 is located 1,700 lightyears away and measures 100 lightyears across.
The light hitting my camera sensor to capture this image left the nebula around the year 325 AD, a pivotal time when the Roman Empire was shifting, Christianity was becoming dominant and significant cultural changes were occurring globally, including early Indian empires, Chinese dynasties, and evolving societies in the Americas and Africa, long before the "Age of Sail" or modern Europe.
To the right of the image you can see part of IC 5070, nicknamed the Pelican Nebula.