Astronomy Picture of the Day

Good morning RP. Today's Red Friday Eve Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Cygnus Skyscapes." The constellation Cygnus (The Swan) is home to Deneb, a vertex in the Summer Triangle. When viewing the full APOD from the NASA site (click the link), Deneb is the bright star near the top of the image. To the left of Deneb is NGC 7000, the North American Nebula. Immediately adjacent to NGC 7000 is the Pelican Nebula. The dark, obscuring Northern Coal Sack Nebula extends from Deneb toward the center of the view. Further down and slightly to the left is the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant that lies 1,400 light years away. This mosaic photo contains 90 hours of image data from three different telescopes. The encompassing red hues are from cosmic dust and ionized hydrogen gas.