NASA News · September 7, 2026
APOD: 2026 September 7 – The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars
Where it is in your sky
- Object
- IC 5070 · Pelican Nebula · Emission nebula
- Constellation
- Cygnus
- Best seen
- Evenings from June to October; highest at midnight in August
- Climbs above 20°
- From 26° S to the North Pole
- Never rises
- South of 46° S
- What you need
- A small telescope (80–150 mm)
Tonight from your location
From the source
The Pelican Nebula is slowly being transformed. IC 5070 (an official designation) is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The deep featured picture from Utah, USA incorporates 25 hours of exposure and brings out great details of this filamentary dust. The Pelican Nebula receives much study because it is a particularly active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming the cold gas to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known as an ionization front, visible in bright orange on the upper right. Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from now, the Pelican Nebula, bounded by dark nebula LDN 935, might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will surely leave something that appears completely different.
APOD’s main site is moving: From apod.nasa.gov to science.nasa.gov/apod Tomorrow’s picture: geometric Saturn
From NASA News.
