North America

Year: 2020
Medium: C-type print
Dimensions: 28H x 21W in | 40H x 30W in | 60H x 45W in
Original Artwork Price: $2,500 | $3,500 | $6,500 (framed)

"This is one of the largest clouds of space gas and dust in the fall night sky. The North America Nebula is an enormous sea of dust and glowing oxygen gas that is bordered by ridges of hydrogen and sulfur gases mixed with dusty material. In this image, I combined the glow of energized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen gases with the light from the stars that fill this field. The resulting image has the natural star color, fine detail, soft, liquid-like transparency in the nebular clouds, and a glow that seems to emanate from inside. I got very lucky in September 2020 with five nearly perfect nights for astrophotography and was able to collect more than 35 hours of photographic exposures. What resulted is one of my favorite images. For me, it evokes a sense of peace and tranquility, like floating in a calm tropical sea.”- Gary Lopez