Milky Way in Cygnus. Optical image of the Milky Way running through the constellation Cygnus. Many nebulae (red) can be seen against the dense starfields. At upper left is the North America nebula (NGC 7000), with the smaller Pelican nebula (IC 5067-5070) to its right, and the bright white star Deneb to the right of that. From Deneb towards bottom right, the Great Rift can be seen. This is a dark band of matter which blocks the light of the starfields behind it. At lower left is a faint broken ring of nebulosity called the Cygnus Loop. This is the remains of a star which ended its life in a massive supernova explosion 20,000 years ago.