IC 5068 is a relatively faint emission nebula in Cygnus which is often overlooked because of its brighter and much more prominent neighbors, the North American and the Pelican Nebulae, which are located to the north (just outside of the frame) and belong to the same complex of emission nebulosity. IC 5068 is actually the designation for the central patch. The nebulae to the right and left of IC 5068 are LBN 329 and LBN 332 respectively, they are separated from IC 5068 by nearly vertical streaks of dark obscuring dust.

The nebulosity emits all of its light in isolated emission lines. The most prominent of those is the Hα line, which was exclusively recorded to obtain the image shown above, displayed here in gray tones. At a wavelength of 656 nm, it is located at the red edge of the visual spectral range, and cannot be not very well perceived by the human eye during nighttime.

IC 5068, in narrow-band filters, natural colors, which this image is part of.