Here's a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location!  This emission nebula is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America.  To the right of the North America Nebula, cataloged as NGC 7000, is a less luminous Pelican Nebula.  The two emission nebulae measure about 50 light-years across, are located about 1500 light-years away, and are separated by a dark absorption cloud.  The nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location.  Look for a small nebular patch north-east of bright star Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus.  It is still unknown which star or stars ionize the red-glowing hydrogen gas. [*]

	My first shot at the North American Nebula Photo taken on 8/13-14/2007 Orion ED80 Unmodified Canon Rebel XT 350D Prime Focus with a 2" adapter 2 - 5 minute exposures ISO 1600 Copyright © 2007 Antonio Pascarella
	My second try at the North American Nebula Taken on 9/7-8/2008 Orion ED80 Hap Griffin Modified Canon Rebel XT 350D Prime Focus with a 2" adapter 50 90-second exposures 1 120-second exposure ISO 1600 Stacked with DeepSkyStacker Processed with PhotoShop CS No reducer was used.  This beauty is so large that it does not fit in the camera's objective.  To capture the outlines that gave it its name, a reducer must be used. Copyright © 2008 Antonio Pascarella