The Pelican aglow

Tony Hallas from Foresthill, California IC 5070 is an emission region that forms the Pelican Nebula, lying around 2,000 light-years away in Cygnus. The region is filled with billowing gas clouds and finely woven strands of dust, all being sculpted and lit by radiation from nearby hot young stars. Double-lobed outflows — like the one visible at the top of of the pillar at center — betray the presence of stars still forming, just breaking out of their natal cocoons. The imager captured this spectacular scene as a two-frame mosaic in SHO and RGB filters with a 14-inch scope.