Cygnus is a northern constellation lying on the plane of the Milky Way. It is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern sky in summer and autumn, thanks to a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. Deneb, or Alpha Cygni, is one of the brightest stars in the night sky; it marks the tail in the constellation (its name means tail in Arabic). The constellation hosts some notable X-ray sources and the giant stellar association of Cygnus OB2. One of the stars of this association, NML Cygni, is one of the largest stars currently known. The constellation is also home to Cygnus X-1, a distant X-ray binary containing a supergiant and unseen massive companion that was the first object widely held to be a black hole. This image was created from photographic material taken with the 1.22 metre Oschin Telescope at Palomar Mountain Observatory, forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / De Martin, Davide |
Bildgröße: | 5912 px × 5912 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
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