North America and Pelican Nebula: This area in the summer constellation of Cygnus, next to the bright star Deneb (center up left), is one of the largest emission and star generating nebula regions we know.  The resemblance with the North American continent and a Pelican is really striking.The image was composed from frames taken with three different narrow band filters letting pass only the H-alpha line of hydrogen, the [OIII] line of oxygen and the [SII] line uf sulfur. The composition was done using the socalled Hubbel palette for arranging the colors.

The wide field image shows the full extent of the two nebular regions reaching out much further than usually displayed in photographs.

Have a look at the Hi-Res version for a closer inspection of the intricate structures of this cosmic highlight.