Cosmic Pelican

Located in the Cygnus constellation, the Pelican Nebula is an active star factory loaded with evolving gas clouds. With 24 hours of exposure (my longest yet), I was able to bring out some of the more subtle, elusive details, particularly with the faint reddish-pink mountainous structures glowing with Sulphur. Young stars heat up cold gasses and push them outward, revealing particularly dense gas filaments. In the bottom-right quadrant of the photo you can see two of these; at the top of the one on the right is the Herbig-Haro object 555, where two high velocity jets of materials are ejected by newborn stars. These jets collide with nearby dust and gas, producing the glowing shock fronts you see here. 6 other Herbig-Haro objects are also in this area if you know where to look! Here are the details on how I produced this photograph: • Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT • Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro • Light Filters: Antlia 3nm H-alpha, OIII, SII • Mount: iOptron CEM70 • Guiding: ASI290MM Mini (50mm scope) • Control Hub: ZWO ASIAIR Pro • Calibration: 40 dark, flat, dark-flat frames • Stacking: Astro Pixel Processor • Editing: Photoshop, Starnet++ • Total Exposure: 24 hours