Known also as IC 5146, this nebula, located approximately 4000 light years away, contains emission, reflection and absorption attributes resulting in a wide spectrum of color. The emission portion probably comes from the star in the center which may be the source of hydrogen emitting a unique spectrum that can be seen through a hydrogen alpha filter.

The two nights that the image was taken contained a full moon which limited the options to taking mostly Ha filtered images (less sensitive to the moon’s light). Despite the severely limiting conditions, the result was rather dramatic. The image reveals much of the structure of the Cocoon Nebula. Due to the narrow band Ha filter, I was not able to capture the delicate bluish nebulosity that completely surrounds the image above (image consists of  Ha:R:G:B  filters for 105:45:45:45 minutes).