Deneb and NGC 7000
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Deneb and NGC 7000 |
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Deep Sky Object Chart |
Deneb is one of the brightest stars in our galaxy, shining 60,000 times brighter than our sun. With a blue-hot heat of 9700 degrees (spectral type A21a) Deneb offers great UV for sun bathers out there - but Earth would have to orbit 244 times farther out if Deneb was our star, or we would get fried. Pluto distance is eight times too close! Be grateful you're seeing it from a safe 1600 light years (incidentally, this means you see it as it appeared in about 400 AD, and they see us that far in the past as well). Far, maybe - but if Deneb uncorks and goes supernova as these massive stars sometimes do, you won't need me to tell you. It will be as bright as the full moon for a few months! | ||
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Just east of Deneb in the sky, and apparently
at about the same distance, is a vast cloud of
hydrogen gas we call the North American Nebula
for its resemblance to that continent. The gas
is being excited to glow, apparently by
radiation from Deneb, and you can spot this
nebula with binoculars from dark sky sites as a
soft glow. Photographs reveal a pinkish color,
and more detail - including, interestingly, a
swirl of gas which would seem to be in the
Atlantic, east of Florida: Atlantis, maybe?
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