The Pelican Nebula is listed as IC 5070 and IC 5067 in the Index Catalogue. Named for its resemblance to a pelican, the nebula is associated with the neighbouring North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and is one of several notable nebulae found in the area of the Northern Cross. It is an active star forming region with a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The position and balance of the stars and gas will gradually change to leave the nebula looking completely different millions of years from now.
The nebula is found along the curve of the celestial pelican’s head and neck. It is a ridge of emission spanning about 10 light years, home to many newly formed stars.
The Pelican Nebula lies at a distance of 1,800 light years and has a visual magnitude of 8.0. It occupies an area of 60′ x 50′ and is separated from the considerably larger North America Nebula by a dark molecular cloud. The two nebulae are parts of the same interstellar cloud of ionized hydrogen, or the same H II region.
The young stars in the nebula are heating up the cold gas in their vicinity and, as a result, an ionization front gradually moves outward. A number of unusually dense filaments of cold gas are still visible, among them two jets emanating from the Herbig-Haro object. The jets evolve and are eventually blown away by the wind produced by the young star. They disperse after a few hundreds of thousands of years at most.