Gamma Cygni Nebula


Gamma Cygni Nebula

Gamma Cygni Nebula

IC 1318 is the catalog designation given to patches of nebulosity in the constellation Cygnus. Located in the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, Cygnus is rich in deep sky objects, including the Crescent Nebula, the Veil Nebula, the Cocoon Nebula, NGC 7048, M29, M39, the North America Nebula, and the Pelican Nebula. IC 1318 surrounds the bright star near the bottom of this image, known as Gamma Cigni. This diffuse emission nebula is therefore commonly called the Gamma Cygni Nebula. This bright magnitude 2.2 star is visible to the naked eye, and was named Sadr in star catalogs dating back to the 1600's. Sadr is an F-type supergiant star emitting over 33,000 times as much energy as our Sun. IC 1318 is located at a distance of about 2000 to 5000 light-years away, while Sadr is located closer to us at a distance of about 1800 light-years.

This image was taken from my backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is an RGB color composite CCD image taken with a Takahashi Epsilon 180ED telescope using an SBIG STL-11000M CCD.

IC 1318
Constellation: Cygnus
RA: 20h 22m 12s Dec: +40d 15' 24" (J2000)
May 29 & 30, 2011
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona


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