NGC 7000 is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, located near Deneb (α Cygni), which is also called the North America Nebula. The dark central region is called The Gulf of Mexico. NGC 7000 is a large nebula that covers an area equivalent to the full moon, but its low surface brightness means that it is not normally visible to the naked eye (however, on a dark night and with the help of a UHC filter it can be seen without optical aid ). NGC 7000 and the nearby Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) are part of the same interstellar cloud of ionized hydrogen (HII region). The dark area in the center is a very dense region of interstellar material that is in front of the nebula and that absorbs its light, giving the whole its characteristic shape. The distance that separates us from NGC 7000 is not known precisely, nor is the star responsible for the ionization of hydrogen that produces the light emission. If, as some sources point out, Deneb is the star that illuminates the nebula, the distance of NGC 7000 from Earth would be on the order of 1800 light years. Wikipedia