Pillars and Jets in the Pelican Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright:
Larry Van Vleet
(LVVASTRO)
What dark structures arise from the Pelican Nebula?
Visible as a bird-shaped nebula toward the constellation of a bird
(Cygnus, the Swan),
the Pelican Nebula is a place dotted with newly formed stars but
fouled with dark dust.
These smoke-sized
dust grains formed in the cool atmospheres of young stars and were dispersed by
stellar winds and
explosions.
Impressive Herbig-Haro jets are seen emitted by a star on the right that is helping to
destroy the
light year-long dust
pillar that contains it.
The featured image was
scientifically-colored to emphasize light emitted by small amounts of
ionized
nitrogen,
oxygen, and
sulfur in the nebula made predominantly of
hydrogen and
helium.
The Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and IC 5070) is about 2,000 light-years away and can be found with a small telescope to the northeast of the bright star
Deneb.