Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  20 d Cyg  ·  24 psi Cyg  ·  26 e Cyg  ·  27 b01 Cyg  ·  28 b02 Cyg  ·  29 b03 Cyg  ·  30 Cyg  ·  31 omi01 Cyg  ·  32 omi02 Cyg  ·  34 P Cyg  ·  35 Cyg  ·  36 Cyg  ·  37 gam Cyg  ·  39 Cyg  ·  40 Cyg  ·  42 Cyg  ·  43 Cyg  ·  44 Cyg  ·  45 ome01 Cyg  ·  46 ome02 Cyg  ·  47 Cyg  ·  49 Cyg  ·  50 alf Cyg  ·  51 Cyg  ·  53 eps Cyg  ·  54 lam Cyg  ·  55 Cyg  ·  56 Cyg  ·  57 Cyg  ·  58 nu. Cyg  ·  And 143 more.
Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm
Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm

Northern Coalsack

Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm
Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm

Northern Coalsack

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Description

This naked eye object is a huge dark nebula located 500 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus at a declination of +43 degrees. The nebula spans 8 degrees in our apparent view, which corresponds to a span of 70 light years.

The original Coalsack is a wonderfully dark hole in space next to the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. I live too far north and have never seen it. But I have heard mention numerous times of the Northern Coalsack in the Northern Hemisphere, next to the Northern Cross. Now that I have found it, I will say that it is a bit disappointing. There are a number of dark nebula in its vicinity and it is actually hard to pick out which one is the Northern Coalsack. I have attached an annotated version of this image to clearly identify it. The informally named Funnel Cloud is just as visible to the naked eye as the Northern Coalsack, and there are other dark nebulae nearby as well. This object seems like a desperate attempt to try to satisfy Northern Hemisphere observers craving for their own coalsack, but to me the Northern Coalsack is just a generic version of the real thing. Surprisingly, both Coalsacks are located the same distance from us and are equally as dark, but the original Southern Coalsack looks so much more dramatic because the Milky Way surrounding it is so bright in that region.

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    Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm
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Description: Annotated

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Northern Coalsack, Gary Imm