IC 5146, S125 (The Cocoon Nebula)

Constellation: Cygnus

Distance: 3900 Light Years

IC5146 is a mixed emission and reflection nebula giving birth to a young cluster of stars (median age of 1 million years).  The bright and very hot star at its center is probably only a few hundred thousand years old, and ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas which glows red.  At the edge of the red emission nebula, interstellar dust reflects blue light, and beyond that, the dust obscures the light of background stars.  This dust extends to form the dark nebula Barnard 168 which can be seen winding its way to the west in wider field images such as the one below which I acquired in 2009.