Cocoon Nebula (Close up)

The Cocoon Nebula (IC5146) is located in Cygnus and is both a reflection and emission nebula.  It's about 4000 light years away and spans 15 light years. The emission nebula, consisting of glowing hydrogen gas appears red whilst the reflection nebula appears blue.  It also contains an open cluster of young stars which includes the bright star seen at the centre of the nebula, below.  This LRGB image image has an Ha blend into the red channel and was taken with my Esprit 150. It represents an integration time of about 27 hours.