Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, with apparent magnitude 1.25.
Deneb's absolute magnitude is −8.73, placing it among the most luminous stars known. Deneb's exact distance from the Earth is a matter of some dispute; figures from 1600 to 3200 light years appear on various online sources. Estimates for Deneb's luminosity range from about 60,000 to 250,000 times the Sun's brightness. At the distance of Sirius it would be brighter than a full moon.

Remarkable features Click the image to view and interact with the hi-res image. Deneb, a Cygni, is an extremely brilliant star, very prominent despite its distance (1800 light years). Sh2-112 is an emission nebula (HII), about 10 arcminutes large. Here is a detail of this object. Sh2-115 is an emission nebula (HII) 50 arcminutes large. Here is a detail of this object. Abell 71 is a planetary nebula, 2.6 arcminutes large and with a visual magnitude of 15.2.   Find Chart The position of Deneb with Sh2-112 and Sh2-115 Nebulae (in the red circle) in Cygnus. Image from Cartes du Ciel.

In order to produce the color image seen here, I worked with data coming from 2 different photographic plates taken at Palomar Observatory between 1989 and 1992. The original file is 10,173x10,100 pixels with a resolution of about 1 arcsec per pixel. The image show an area of sky large 2.8° x 2.8° (for comparison, the full-Moon is about 0.5° in diameter).
Copyright: Davide De Martin.

Other images of the same celestial field found online

• http://astrim.free.fr/sh2-112.htm by Chris Deforeit;
• http://www.astrophotos.net/pages/Nebula/sh2-112.htm by Glen Youman;
• http://hubble.heim.at/S115.htm by Bernhard Hubl.

This image is a composite from black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the second National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two type of glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue light and later they were digitized. Credit: Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey.