File:Gulf of Mexico (27564357895).png

English: A portion of dark dust appears along the border of NGC 7000, named the North American Nebula for its reminiscent shape in visible light. What otherwise looks like an empty place conceals the birthplaces of stars, but how to show this? They like their privacy!

This section is something like where North America's Great Lakes and the Canadian border might appear. Edit 2016 August 03: Apparently I had my geography rotated 90° and most people consider this area to be like the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, etc. I have no idea why no one mentioned this. I don't mind updating my description. Honestly, a blob is a blob and I constantly interpret named nebulas wrong. Oh well.

Within the dust are numerous young stellar objects, which you can see as a strand of bright red sources in the densest part of the dust in the center of the large, combined frame. A structure commonly called the Cygnus Wall is visible at lower left.

The view in infrared (lower left frame) stands in stark contrast to the visible (upper left frame) version. The large image combines both views into a single image.

It is difficult to create a compelling image with such disparate wavelengths, but it doesn't stop me from trying. Hopefully the inclusion of the two wavelength groups as separate images results in greater clarity.

Two broader views expertly processed by Luisa Redbull and Davide De Martin, utilizing a similar dataset (Spitzer instead of WISE!), are available here, in APOD form: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110215.html

Infrared WISE channels W1, W3, and W4 were combined with DSS channels Blue and Red to create this image.

Red: W4 Orange: W1 Yellow-green: W3

Orange: DSS Red Cyan: DSS Blue

North is up.