Stargazer Snaps Amazing View of Giant 'Wall' In Space (Photo)

Andre van der Hoeven took this image of the Cygnus Wall from his backyard in the Netherlands. He used a TEC-140 telescope, QSI-583 camera and a NEQ-6 mount to capture the image. The photo was released to SPACE.com July 16, 2013. (Image credit: <a href="http://www.astro-photo.nl/deepsky/nebulae/ngc7000-the-cygnus-wall">Andre van der Hoeven</a>)

Astrophotographer Andre van der Hoeven did not let his light-pollution backyard in the Netherlands stop him from taking this spectacular image of the Cygnus Wall.

The Cygnus Wall is the most active region of the North American Nebula, or NGC 7000. The region is distinguished by a glowing-red color caused by hydrogen gas burning where new stars are in the process of forming. The North American Nebula is approximately 1,800 light-years away and roughly 100 light-years in diameter. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

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Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.