Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  LBN 477
LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm
LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm

LBN 477 / vdB 156d

LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm
LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm

LBN 477 / vdB 156d

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Description

This object is located in the constellation of Andromeda at a declination of +42 degrees. It spans 45 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This bright cloud is designated both as a LBN (bright nebula) object and a vdB (reflection nebula) object.

But is it really a reflection nebula?

This object has been identified as one of 4 parts (a, b, c and d) of vdB 156.  Parts a, b, and c can be seen in more detail in this image.  Sources say that all 4 parts of vdB 156 are being illuminated by the blue magnitude 3.6 star Omicron Andromedae, which is about 1 degree off image to the upper right.   Here is the Aladin sky atlas image:
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It is interesting to me that vdB 156d is not more blue in color since the illuminating star is bright blue.  

I do not believe that this is a reflection nebula that is reflecting the light of a single star.  I think it is a molecular cloud reflecting the integrated light of the entire Milky Way, known as an IFN (Integrated Flux Nebula).  This is due to 3 reasons - the uniform shading of brightness throughout the cloud, the lack of intense color in the cloud, and its large distance (16 degrees) from the galactic plane.  I believe that the bright "central" star is simply superimposed from our view perspective and is at a different distance than the clouds.

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    LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm
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  • LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm
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LBN 477 / vdB 156d, Gary Imm