Nebulas abound in this beautiful photo.
Taken by astrophotographer André van der Hoeven from his backyard observatory in the Netherlands, this amazing image prominently features the northern constellation Cygnus .
“It's a region that is not imaged very often and when you look on the Internet you will not find very many pictures, although it's very beautiful in my opinion,” the astrophotographer wrote SPACE.com in an email.
Barnard 344, pictured toward the bottom of the image, is a dark nebula that resides in the night sky close to the star Sadr in the Gamma Cygni Nebula. Emission nebula LBN234 glows with hydrogen and sulfur in the upper, middle section of the photo. Reflection nebula VanDenBergh 130 can also be seen. Located on the periphery of our host galaxy the Milky Way, Cygnus (the Swan) is one of the easiest constellations to spot because it features the Northern Cross.
The photographer sent this image to SPACE.com on July 26. He used a TEC-140 telescope, QSI-583 camera and a Skywatcher NEQ-6 mount to capture the image.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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