The Cocoon Nebula IC 5146 is a dust and gas pillar dozens of light years long, approximately 2000 light years away from us. Inside the very tip of the pillar there is a cluster of young stars, which light up the dust and excite the hydrogen gas, making it glow red.

The image was exposed for a total of 10 hours with Chroma LRGB filters, a ZWO ASI2600MM camera, Sky-Watcher Esprit 100ED refractor telescope and an APM Riccardi 0.75x focal reducer.