Cocoon Nebula Picture

This image was taken on the Sawyer 24-inch reflector at Whitin Observatory on Wellesley's campus. I took exposures in the R, V, B, and H-alpha filters to create the color image above on two nights of observing.

The image is of IC 5146: the Cocoon Nebula. This nebula is a reflection/emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus and a stellar nursery. The nebula is roughly 2,500 light-years away from Earth (780 parsecs) and has a magnitude of 7.2.