Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 February 11 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Cygnus Mosaic 2010 - 2020 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: J-P Metsavainio ([4]Astro Anarchy) Explanation: [5]In brush strokes of interstellar dust and glowing gas, this beautiful skyscape is painted across the plane of our [6]Milky Way Galaxy near the northern end of [7]the Great Rift and the constellation [8]Cygnus the Swan. [9]Composed over a decade with 400 hours of image data, the broad mosaic spans an impressive 28x18 degrees across the sky. Alpha star of Cygnus, bright, hot, supergiant [10]Deneb lies at the left. Crowded with stars and luminous gas clouds Cygnus is also home to the dark, obscuring Northern Coal Sack Nebula and the star forming emission regions NGC 7000, the [11]North America Nebula and IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, just left and a little below Deneb. Many other [12]nebulae and star clusters are identifiable throughout the cosmic scene. Of course, Deneb itself is also known to northern hemisphere skygazers for its place in two [13]asterisms, marking a vertex of the [14]Summer Triangle, the top of the [15]Northern Cross. Tomorrow's picture: eye spiral __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2102/00Cygnus_Visual_colors.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.astroanarchy.blogspot.com/ 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cole#/media/File:Cole_Thomas_The_Oxbow_(The_Connecticut_River_near_Northampton_1836).jpg 6. https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/07/22/how-many-stars-in-the-milky-way/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161110.html 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_%28constellation%29 9. https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/02/cygnus-mosaic-in-visual-colors.html 10. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/deneb.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210129.html 12. https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r6U6qjeg_Mc/YCJkEyi3uFI/AAAAAAAAS4M/CoCNNDNSppgXUB9_3yK3XZCLBkUZk8OrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1930/CygnusMosaic_Whole_MAP_RED.jpg 13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_%28astronomy%29 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150627.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031023.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210210.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210211 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210212.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 36. http://www.mtu.edu/