This feature is inspired by the questions we have received over the years from interested readers. If you have a question about an astronomical topic, please forward it to us.

Bob Ayers writes:
Dr. Shane:
    In the Summer 2001 MIRA Newsletter, you write that "The Pelican Nebula . . . is smaller and so faint that it can only be seen on photographs."
    It so happens that only one week before I received the newsletter, I spent part of a pleasant observing session studying the Pelican Nebula with my eye, a telescope, and a nebula filter!

Dr. Whitney Shane responds:
    Thank you for your interesting comment on the Pelican Nebula. Having spent most of my career in radio astronomy, I am a very inexperienced visual observer, and I am continually amazed at what visual observers are able to detect. I have been told that a good nebular filter can indeed make a great difference, but I remain of the opinion that only an exceptionally talented visual observer could detect such a faint object.
    If the Pelican Nebula had had an NGC number, then my task would have been easy, since the NGC appeared before photography had become more than an astronomical curiosity. After the appearance of the NGC, many more nebulae were discovered, leading to the publication of two extensions, called Index Catalogs, or IC. By this time, photography had become an established tool, and nebulae were being discovered at such a rate that yet more index catalogs became impractical.
    If my recollection serves me, Dr. Max Wolf was one of the first to apply photography successfully, and it was his discovery of many nebulae, mostly extragalactic, as it turned out, that led to the above problem. Now I read that it was Wolf who named the North American Nebula, and I am speculating that he did so on the basis of photographs, since the resemblance to North America is very clear on photographs but, without prior knowledge, scarcely discernable visually, and certainly not without the aid of a suitable filter. This leads me further to ask if he might not also have discovered the Pelican Nebula which, by the way, has two IC numbers, 5067 for the brighter part and 5070 for the fainter.
    With the limited means at my disposal I have been unable to verify any of the above. Perhaps you or someone else could tell me who discovered the Pelican Nebula (or more properly IC 5067 and 5070) and by what means, and who gave it its name. I would find it very gratifying to know more about this bit of astronomical history.

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