IC 5070 · PELICAN NEBULA JUL 2025
§ DEEP-SKY · TARGET
IC 5070
Pelican Nebula
- TYPE
- Emission nebula
- CONSTELLATION
- Cygnus
- DISTANCE
- 1,800 ly
- MAGNITUDE
- +8.0
- APPARENT SIZE
- 60' × 50'
ACQUISITION
DATE
Jul 2025
LOCATION
Idyllwild, CA · Bortle 3
INTEGRATION
8h 00m
PALETTE
HOO
SUBS
480 × 60s
SEEING
2.3"
FILTERS
Ha 3nm · OIII 3nm
The Pelican shares the H-II complex with the North America Nebula but gets a fraction of the attention. The 'beak' is a pillar of dense gas being eroded by UV radiation from nearby O-stars.
§ 01 · THE NIGHT
How this one came together
The first night I trusted the electronic focuser enough to sleep through a session. Six hours of unattended subs. Woke up to a full frame and nothing had drifted.
§ 02 · PROCESSING
Workflow
- HOO palette with a 30% synthetic green from Ha
- Star color preserved via a separate RGB run
- Pillar detail enhanced via high-pass layer
§ 03 · GEAR
Equipment
- SCOPE
- Printed 200/800 Newt · OTA v1.3
- CAMERA
- ASI2600MM Pro
- MOUNT
- EQ6-R Pro
- FILTERS
- Antlia Ha + OIII 3nm
- GUIDING
- OAG