Cocoon nebula

(IC 5146) An emission nebula about 1 kiloparsec distant in the constellation Cygnus, surrounding a small cluster of faint stars. It is thought to be a region of active star formation.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

References in periodicals archive ?

It is also an example of a cocoon nebula, a term that describes the dusty envelope that surrounds some newborn stars in the process of forming planets.

The Inconstancy of Nebulae

One of my favorite dark nebulae is Barnard 168, or as I call it, the Road to the Cocoon Nebula. When I'm hunting for the position of the Cocoon (IC 5146) in my finderscope, I follow this narrow finger of darkness to the emission nebula's telescopic field.

October: the action is mostly in the morning for planet observers this month, but some unusual deep-sky wonders tantalize us well before bedtime

The nebula was round and reminded me a little of the Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus (IC 5146).

The Herschel Project rod: a veteran deep-sky observer successfully completed the challenge of observing every object in the Herschel Catalog

Another well-known imaging target, the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) appeared quite grainy on the standard 5-minute exposure used by Dr Hewitt for all objects, a testimony to this nebula's extreme faintness.

Meeting of the Deep Sky Section, 2009 March 7: held at the Humfrey Rooms, Castilian Terrace, Northampton

At B168's eastern extremity lies the Cocoon Nebula, an object too faint for binocular viewing.

Binocular highlight: zenith cluster M39

Not far from M39 lie the Cocoon Nebula and the spooky dark nebula Barnard 168, which S&T's Gary Seronik calls "the Road to the Cocoon." Here too is Pi' ([[pi].sup.1]) Cygni, which has one of my favorite preposterous names: Azelfafage ("ah-ZEL-fuh-fahj," a medieval corruption of the Arabic name "the Tortoise").

Novelties of November: you don't need to travel the globe or stand on your head to enjoy the constellations in new ways

It's a cinch to follow B168 to its end, which engulfs IC 5146, the Cocoon Nebula. At first I couldn't see the nebula, but when I added a hydrogen-beta (H[beta]) filter it was immediately apparent, with a 10th-magnitude star at its heart and another at its southern edge.

Cygnus sampler--Part II: Autumn evenings beckon deep-sky observers with a wonderland of sights spread along the northern Milky Way

Another quarry in Cygnus is the 2 [degrees] long Barnard 168, which meanders to and engulfs the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) at its eastern end.