IC 5070

The Pelican Nebula IC 5070 is located about 2000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It was first photographed by the German astronomer Max Wolf on December 12, 1890. However, in his article published in 1891, he described the nebula in a general way and did not take the trouble to indicate its position. It was then observed again in 1899 by Thomas Espin who gave its precise position. John Dreyer, who undertook to classify the discovered stars in different catalogs, names Thomas Espin as the discoverer. The nebula could have been found in the NGC (New General Catalogue) catalog if Max Wolf had indicated its precise position. It was finally listed in the IC (Index Catalogue) since it is a complement to the NGC that had already been published in 1899.

IC 5070 is located next to the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) named so because of its shape. Brighter because of its proximity to the very bright star Deneb, and much larger, it has long overshadowed the Pelican Nebula, named so because of its resemblance to the animal. However, it is actually a single, vast complex of gas and dust.

Deneb, a blue supergiant, is one of the best-known stars in the Milky Way. It is its intense radiation that illuminates the hydrogen clouds in this region.

The Pelican Nebula is very photogenic and offers more details than NGC 7000. The opaque areas due to dust accentuate the ionized ones even more. It also has a stronger star-making activity than its neighbor. Paradoxically, the darkest areas are those that give birth to the greatest number of stars. Indeed, the ionized areas are luminous by the radiation of Deneb and their low density. However, the latter must be dense enough for the matter to condense.

The image presented is in SHO made with a color camera. An L-Ultimate filter was used to capture the Ha and the OIII, separated during the stacking under Siril, as well as a SII filter. It is the result of 75x10 minutes of exposures in total.

Equipment used:
- Zwo AM5
- Asiair plus
- 533 mc pro
- 120mm mini (with optical divider)
- EAF
- Filter wheel
- L-Ultimate filter
- SII filter
- Stacked in Siril
- Processed in PixInsight
- Finished in Lightroom