Framing the North America and Pelican Nebulae (NGC 7000 and IC 5070)

The North America Nebula is large and faint. NASA’s Caldwell page notes that it covers an area more than three times larger than the full Moon yet, despite an apparent magnitude of 5, does not look bright against the Milky Way. For a camera that is good news: it is a wide-field target that rewards short focal lengths and long total exposure.

Choosing a size

Source	Size	Covers
Sharpless (Sh 2-117)	240′	the H II region, including the Pelican
NGC 2000.0 (NGC 7000)	120′	the North America Nebula
Lynds (LBN 373)	120′ × 30′	bright-nebula outline
NGC 2000.0 (IC 5070)	80′	the Pelican Nebula
Lynds (LBN 350)	60′ × 50′	the Pelican, bright part

Because Sharpless 117 already contains the Pelican, this page uses the NGC 2000.0 sizes for each nebula and treats the pair as two objects. Neither catalogue gives an orientation, so both are drawn as circles.

The pair in one frame

From SIMBAD positions the Pelican is 83.5′ west of the North America Nebula, and their outlines together fill a box of about 181′ × 120′, long side east–west:

Sensor	Pair spans 80 % of the frame	90 %
APS-C IMX571	357 mm	401 mm
Full frame IMX455	546 mm	615 mm
1-inch IMX533 (square)	172 mm	193 mm

The east–west layout suits a camera in its normal landscape orientation. The 250 mm Petzval and APS-C combination in the setups table frames the pair with room around it; the 400 mm FRA400 holds it with almost no margin.

Mosaics for longer focal lengths

At 550 mm with an APS-C sensor (146.8′ × 98.1′ per frame), covering the pair plus 10 % margin with 15 % overlap takes three panels in a row with the camera turned so the sensor’s short side runs east–west. The mosaic planner works out other combinations and shows the panel layout. A 1-inch square sensor at 900 mm (43.2′ per side) would need far more panels; at that scale most imagers choose one region of the nebula rather than covering all of it.

Neighbours

The Veil Nebula is in the same constellation, about 14° to the south (computed from SIMBAD positions), so the two are well placed on the same nights. Only a camera lens covers both in one frame.

Season and altitude

The pair culminates at local midnight in early August, and NASA gives September as the best month for the North America Nebula. At about +44° declination it passes high overhead from mid-northern latitudes (84° from 50° N) and stays within about 11° of the horizon from 35° S.