Deneb, Vega and Altair form the three bright stars of the Summer Triangle. Deneb is visible just above the North American Nebula at the lower left, Vega at the top center, and Altair near the right center edge of the photo. The rich star clouds in Cygnus are broken by large dark lanes and rifts in the summer Milky Way. Stretching from the Northern Coal Sack dark nebula at the lower left through the great rift in the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Aquila, clouds of dark matter obscure stars behind them. The tremendous amount of dust in these areas also cause reddening of the star clouds along the spine of the Milky Way near the great rift. The North American Nebula, and nebulosity around Gamma Cygni (both red emission nebulae) are also visible at lower left.