The North America Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellationCygnus, close to Deneb (the tail of the swan and its brightest star). The shape of the nebularesembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico.

On October 24, 1786, William Herschel observing from Slough, England, noted a “faint milky nebulosity scattered over this space, in some places pretty bright.” The most prominent region was catalogued by his son John Herschel on August 21, 1829. It was listed in the New General Catalogueas NGC 7000, where it is described as a “faint, most extremely large, diffuse nebulosity.”