Heart of the Pelican

 Here's a reprocessed image of the Pelican, showing some of the fine detail in the core region. The Pelican Ridge is about 10 light years long. The tortuous shapes in the cloud are sculpted by massive, hot, young stars. This view shows the deep turbulence in the nebula. If you look closely at gthe long tendril (click to enlarge), you can see the bright, twin jets emerging from protostar Harbig-Haro 555.