The Cygnus Rift is a vast complex of dark nebulosity and interstellar dust lying across the northern arm of the Milky Way.
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000), together with the nearby Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), forms the bright — emission — part of a huge cloud of ionized hydrogen, an H II region spanning some three degrees of sky. The names, as always, come from resemblance: the northern part of the American continent and, indeed, a pelican.
The two nebulae are separated by the dark nebula LDN 935, which absorbs the light of the stars behind it. Clearly visible too is the Cygnus Wall which, besides being beautiful, holds the highest concentration of star formation in the region.
For a long time nobody knew for certain which star was responsible for ionizing the hydrogen of both nebulae. Only in 2004 was the culprit found hiding behind the band of gas: a young blue star of spectral class O5V, going by the distinctly unpoetic name of 2MASS J205551.25+435224.6.
Two open clusters also appear in the field: NGC 6996, the bird's nest, and the more prominent NGC 6997.
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