Caldwell 20

E491337

Caldwell 20 is a large, bright emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, notable for its distinctive shape resembling the outline of the North American continent.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Caldwell 20 canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf H II region
deep-sky object
emission nebula
alsoKnownAs North America Nebula
angularSize about 120 arcminutes
apparentMagnitude 4.0
associatedWithStar Deneb
bestSeenFromHemisphere Northern Hemisphere
bestViewingSeason summer
catalogCode C20
catalogNumber NGC 7000
contains interstellar dust
interstellar gas
star-forming regions
containsRegion Central America region
linked to: Central America

East Coast region
Gulf of Mexico region
linked to: Gulf of Mexico

Mexico region
declination +44° 20′
discoveredBy William Herschel
discoveryYear 1786
distanceFromEarth about 2600 light-years
about 800 parsecs
dominantColor red
dominantEmissionLine H-alpha
excitedBy nearby hot young stars
galacticLatitude about +2.0 degrees
galacticLongitude about 85.5 degrees
hasDistinctiveShape resembles outline of North American continent
includedIn New General Catalogue
ionizingSource Deneb
locatedIn Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way
linked to: Orion–Cygnus Arm
locatedInConstellation Cygnus
nearbyObjectOnSky Pelican Nebula
observedInWavelength hydrogen-alpha
visible light
observingRequirement dark skies for best visibility
partOf Milky Way
partOfCatalog Caldwell catalogue
rightAscension 20h 58m
separatedFromNearbyObjectBy dark dust lane
skyLocation near star Deneb in Cygnus
typeOfNebula diffuse nebula
visibleToNakedEye as faint glow under dark skies
visibleWith small telescope
wide-field binoculars

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

North America Nebula alsoKnownAs Caldwell 20