IC 5070 - Pelican Nebula
A bicolour HOO capture of IC 5070, staying close on the bright ridge that runs through the nebula rather than pulling back for the wider field it shares with the North America Nebula.
The object
IC 5070, the Pelican Nebula, sits just across a dust lane from the North America Nebula, sharing the same hydrogen-rich field but forming its own distinct shape - the curved bill and hunched neck that give it its name.
This version stays close on the bright ridge running through the middle of the nebula, rather than the wider field shared with its neighbour.
Capture notes
Captured over three nights, split evenly between Hα and OIII with no broadband data added - a simple bicolour approach that leaves the structure to carry the image.
Processing
Processing worked with just the two channels, using OIII to fill in where hydrogen alone would have looked flat, and keeping contrast restrained rather than pushed toward something more dramatic.
It's a simpler dataset than most of the later work here, and it shows - but the ridge structure holds up well even without a broadband layer underneath.
