by Anthony Ayiomamitis
One of the most impressive regions of the summer sky is the large area just south of the bright star Deneb (α-Cyg, mag 1.33) and where one will find two massive emission nebulae, namely the North American Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and IC 5070), separated by a thin dark dust lane. The Pelican Nebula lies at a distance of 1,900 light-years away and spans 15 light-years in diameter. It is often depicted in two forms; the larger widefield version encompasses the complete nebula and is designated as IC 5070 whereas a smaller region with protruding tendrils and near the neck of the "pelican" is also often referred to by the same name but under a different designation within the IC catalog (IC 5067). The rich emission is associated with star formation and it is expected that this area of the sky will look dramatically different in a few million years owing to a plethora of new stars and a significantly reduced amount of hydrogen.
Technical Details:
Date: July 14-15, 2010 @ 23:30 - 01:50 UT+3
Location: Athens, Greece (38.2997° N, 23.7430° E)
Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106/f5, AP 1200GTO GEM, SBIG ST-10XME, SBIG CFW10, Baader 7nm H-α
Integrations: Ha @ 140 min using 7x20-min subs, 1x1 binning, 2.65"/pixel, -10.0d C
Further details are available here. Due to light pollution, the RGB portion of the data was discarded and not blended with the Ha. Over the next few weeks, IC 5070 will be revisited for a repeat attempt.