Celestial Swan Soars Over Castle Ruins in Amazing Photo

P-M Heden of The World at Night took this photo from Uppsala, Sweden in Sept. 2012. This deep landscape shot required only a wide aperture and filter to boost contrast. CREDIT: P-M Heden / Clearskies.se / The World at Night View full size image

Constellation Cygnus and star Deneb beam brightly above an ancient castle ruin in this beautiful night sky photo.

Veteran astrophotographer P-M Heden of The World at Night captured this image from Uppsala, Sweden in Sept. 2012. The deep landscape shot required only a wide aperture and filter to boost contrast.

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In the image, Cygnus or the Swan, appears above the castle along with the North America Nebula. This emission nebula, also called NGC 7000, can be seen as a red cloud in the image. The shape of the nebula seems to resemble the North American continent including the Gulf of Mexico.  The bright star Deneb is close to this nebula and makes up the tail of the swan shape in Cygnus.

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