Clouds of glowing gas stand at the top of the Northern Cross in Cygnus. The dark band between the "east coast" and the Pelican is partially formed by obscuring dust and gas.

Astro-Physics 105mm (4.1 inch) refractor at f4.5. Three twenty-five minute exposures on gas-hypersensitized Kodak Supra 400 color negative film. August 8, 2002 from Speculator, NY. © 2002

The Pelican Nebula is part of a larger complex of glowing hydrogen gas and dark dust clouds that includes the North American Nebula. The Pelican is cataloged as IC 5070. Details of the dark globules at the back of the pelican's "head" are shown below.

Astro-Physics 155mm refractor at f5.4. 240 minutes through an Astrodon 3 nm H-a filter using a QSI 583 on 2011-11-07 from Northern New Jersey. North is up. ©2011

Dark globules and "elephant trunks" on the edge of the Pelican Nebula, a detail from the above image. This region is separately cataloged as IC 5067 and is about 2000 light-years away. Similar elephant trunks can be seen in CED 214 and IC 1396.

Near the tip of the tallest dark pillar, bipolar jets can be seen emerging from a hidden new star that formed in the depths of the globule. The jets bend westward in the stellar wind from the hot star that has ionized this entire region. The jets are cataloged as HH555 and are marked in the detail shown below.

Detail with the HH555 jets marked.