Hi all.

As Cygnus is just above our head this month, I was wondering if anyone was able to see the North America nebula in the EP (I mean, not with a CCD). I tried multiple times, using all my filter set, still nothing.

Any luck with it?

good question! the north amer. nebula is very large and faint so to see it the best tool to use is...your eyes! on a dark night spot it with your eyes then use binoculars or a telescope with a extreamly wide field of view.

Hello nrivard,

the North America nebula (NGC 7000) is an DSO for an exit pupil of some 6mm or more, and for quite a lot of field of view. In my SkyWatcher 150mm/750mm it is just something "smeared" across the EP. I get as a rule the best view with the 10.5x70 and 15x85 binos, equipped with a narrow band (8.5 nm, Baader) OIII filter. It is a great view.

There are some people who claim to have seen it with unaided eyes, but both my eyes and my backyard skies are not that good.

Wishing you much success with NA,

j.gardavsky

I tried again a week ago at our Spring Star Party under very good sky near Mont-Tremblant. I used a UHC filter on a 2 in., 32 mm EP (38X). I'm not 100% sure, but I think I got a hint of it. I saw a vague variation of background filling the FOV (and then some), but I couldn't recognize the typical shape of the nebula.

I'll try again this summer if the clouds can take a break.

Hello nrivard,

one of the issues with NGC 7000 is, it is embedded in a rch star field. The UHC does not help, take a narrow band OIII, as narrow as you can afford.

But even without filters, concentrate your view on the "Little Orion Asterism" - it is sitting in the LDN935 dark nebula separating Pelican from North America. NA will then pop up.

Try also to fix the southern arc of nebulas IC5068 south of NA.

Best

JG