Stunning Photo of Cosmic 'Cygnus Wall' Captured
Veteran astrophotographer Bill Snyder captured this image of the Cygnus Wall, which is the most active region of star formation in the North America Nebula.
A veteran astrophotographer captured this beautiful photo of the massive hot bed of star formation astronomers call the Cygnus Wall.
Photographer Bill Snyder created this image from more than 18 hours of observations in 2013 using his Heavens Mirror Observatory in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. He used a Planewave 17” telescope equipped with an Apogee U16 camera, as well as a Paramount ME mount and Astrodon Ha5nm, OIII3nm, SII5nmfilters, to capture the photo.
Located in the southern part of the North America nebula, the Cygnus Wall is one of the highest concentrations of star formations in the region. The North American Nebula, also known as NGC 7000, is approximately 1,800 light-years away from Earth and roughly 100 light-years in diameter. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). (Oct 25, 2013 08:30 AM ET // by Nina Sen, Space.com Contributor)
