Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 March 1

                     The Pelican Nebula in Red and Blue
    Image Credit & Copyright: M. Petrasko, M. Evenden, U. Mishra (Insight
                                    Obs.)

   Explanation: The Pelican Nebula is changing. The entire nebula,
   officially designated IC 5070, is divided from the larger North America
   Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican,
   however, is particularly interesting because it is an unusually active
   mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds. The featured picture was
   processed to bring out two main colors, red and blue, with the red
   dominated by light emitted by interstellar hydrogen. Ultraviolet light
   emitted by young energetic stars is slowly transforming cold gas in the
   nebula to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known
   as an ionization front, visible in bright red across the image center.
   Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from
   now this nebula 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.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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