A Pelican in the Swan
The Pelican Nebula is in Cygnus [Swan] about 2,000 lightyears away; it is also just off of the east coast of the North American nebula, or NGC 7000. There are dark dust clouds in the upper left that form the pelican's head and eye. Ionized gas creates the curve in the head and the neck. This picture was altered in black and white & synthesized colours at the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory.
