IC 5146 — The Cocoon Nebula
Captured with: Seestar S50 Smart Telescope
Distance: ~3,300 light-years
Constellation: Cygnus
Type: Reflection and Emission Nebula
Apparent Size: ~12 x 10 arcminutes
IC 5146, known as the Cocoon Nebula, is a glowing cradle of star birth wrapped in a dark cloud of cosmic dust. At its heart lies a newly formed cluster of stars, their intense radiation illuminating the surrounding gas in soft red and blue hues — hydrogen glowing from ionization, and dust reflecting starlight.
Through the Seestar S50, the nebula appears as a luminous knot at the end of a dark lane — a filament of obscuring dust stretching across the Milky Way. This lane marks a dense molecular cloud, where gravity pulls gas and dust together to form new suns. The Cocoon is both womb and wake: stars are still being born within, even as their light begins to disperse the material that created them.
IC 5146 shows us the full cycle of stellar creation — darkness collapsing into light, and light dissolving its own shadows. It’s one of the sky’s quietest wonders, a small nebula that holds the entire story of how stars come to be.