| Description: | A few degrees west of the Famous "North America Nebula" (NGC7000) lies another complex of gas and dust called the "Pelican Nebula" (IC5070). Through a telescope it is not visible to the eye because of it's low brightness and deep red colour. However, when imaged with a CCD equipped with an H-Alpha filter, it looks very impressive and, with some imagination, even like a pelican!
The image above is a single uncalibrated 20 minute integration with a 106mm aperture photographic refractor and a QSI583 cooled CCD. The filter used was a 6nm bandpass H-Alpha filter. During image acquisition there was an almost full Moon in the dark blue sky. Narrowband imaging makes it possible to observe under seemingly hopeless conditions like through light pollution or in bright moonlight. |
