APOD: 2026 September 7 – The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars
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Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2026 September 7
The Pelican Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars
Image Credit & Copyright:
Mark Killion
Explanation:
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 NASA site is
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Tomorrow’s picture: geometric Saturn
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn
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