Hi pierovera
Glad you like it. The object you refer to is just a star but, unlike pretty much all the other stars you can see, it is actually visible to the naked eye although maybe not from a city centre. It is actually what lights up the nebula, not by reflected light but by ultra-violet light that energises the atoms in the gas cloud which then emit visible light as their electrons drop back down into lower energy states.
Maybe that's too much information but you might want to have a quick look at the headline numbers for the star. It's called Xi Persei or Menkib and you can find an easy to read and brief summary at Wikipedia
here. Check out its total luminosity (all wavelengths) compared to our Sun.
Bob.
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