Reverend Thomas Espin discovered IC 5070, along with IC 5068, visually on 7 Sep 1899 with a 17 1/4-inch reflector at his Tow Law observatory in England. The discovery was included in a short list of 6 new objects (including the Cocoon Nebula) in AN 3633 and noted as "faint and diffused". His position corresponds with the "neck" of the Pelican, the brightest part of the nebula, so the identification is certain.

Max Wolf photographed the region surrounding the North American Nebula on 1 Jun 1891 (AN 3048) on a 3 hour plate. He gives a general description of the region with no specific positions, though mentions strong nebulosity was recorded around the stars 56 and 57 Cygni, which are involved in the Pelican Nebula. So, certainly it was captured on his early image. Espin is credited with the discovery in the IC2, but Wolf should share credit.

200/250mm - 8" (6/22/81): faint, surrounding scattered group of stars at 50x and UHC filter. Appears as a bright patch to the west of two bright stars (neck section).

300/350mm - 13.1" (7/5/83): the entire body of the "Pelican" is easily visible at 62x and a UHC filter. The "head and neck" section is easy to view along with the fainter "bill" and a long body extending from head. Located west of the North America Nebula in a rich field between two mag 7 stars.

400/500mm - 18" (7/17/07): The huge Pelican Nebula overfilled the 67' field in the 31 Nagler. The UHC filter gave a higher contrast than the OIII filter. Several brighter sections were noted on the close-up chart A1 in the U2000 atlas. One of the brightest pieces is the "neck" of the Pelican located 20'-25' W of mag 4.8 57 Cygni and collinear with two mag 8/9 stars 10' and 12' due west. The glow extends 10' in length. To the SW of the mag 4.8 star is the large "beak" section that streams from NW to SE and extends roughly 20'x8', widening a bit at the SE end. The west side of the beak is defined by a dark lane that parallels the nebulosity and the large, faint body of the Pelican is west of this lane and includes 5.1-magnitude 56 Cygni (the nebulosity is very weak here). The brightest section of the body is a large, circular patch at the south end, ~12' diameter, and located 30' SE of 56 Cygni and 55' S of the "neck".

18" (9/25/06): This was the first observation of the Pelican Nebula in quite awhile and I forgot about this huge, interesting emission nebula. The view was fascinating at 113x with an OIII or UHC filter as this object overfilled the 44' field. I started exploring to the west of 4.8-magnitude 57 Cygni. The brightest section is possibly on a line with this star and a mag 7.2 star further east and corresponds with the neck portion on the Pelican. This is where the ionization front is most evident on photographs. The elongated "beak" of the Pelican also begins to the west of the bright star and streams off in a wide river of nebulosity towards the southeast and passing out of the field. A long darker lane apparently free of nebulosity isolates the "neck" from the main body of the Pelican. The irregular body spreads out to the south of the neck well beyond the southern edge of the eyepiece field and extends at least 65' from the neck terminating at the SE end with a roundish bright patch of nebulosity ~12' in diameter. The Pelican is located directly west of the North American Nebula and part of the same huge complex of nebulosity in this region (separated by the dark cloud LDN 935).

Notes by Steve Gottlieb