IC 5070 – Pelican Nebula

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HH&IRASObjects

Mosaic2

Shown is a 33 hour long exposure that was collected over multiple nights in mid-September to early October, 2010.  There is 23 hours of 1X1 narrowband data using the Hubble palette (SII – red, Ha -green, OIII – blue).  This showed nice color differentiation in the nebula but left all the stars magenta-red.  So an additional 10 hours of LRGB 1X1 data was obtained which was blended into the narrowband image to give more aesthetic bright “RGB” stars.  All data was obtained using the 14.5-inch RCOS scope at f/9 and Apogee U16M camera at -30C. at CAV, including some moonlit nights.
Like the Lagoon Nebula, the Pelican Neb is loaded with stellar nurseries and the phenomena called Herbig-Haro Objects (HH) which are signature nebulae of protostellar outflows.  This Mt. Binky narrowband image shows all of the HH objects discovered by Bally et al. in The Astronomical Journal, 126:893-901, 2003 August issue and more (link below)!  I have labelled a number of them and identified the location of probable infrared sources likely powering these shock-excited nebulae.  Like in the case of the Lagoon nebula, there appear to be far more HH objects in my image than have been catalogued, hence, we are seeing anonymous HH objects!

http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/126/2/893/pdf/1538-3881_126_2_893.pdf – Landmark article on Pelican Neb Outflows!!!