vdB 31 (2019) (Gary Imm)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Auriga (Aur) · Contains: B26 · B27 · B28 · VdB31

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vdB 31 (2019)

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vdB 31 (2019)

This image captures a reflection nebula and several dark nebulae located 500 light years away in the constellation of Auriga. It passes directly overhead of me at a declination of +30 degrees. This view spans almost 5 light years.

The reflection nebula is vdB 31, the 31st object in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 catalog of reflection nebulae. The nebula is reflecting the light of the 7th magnitude bright blue star AB Aurigae. vdB 31 is made even more lovely by the contrasting orangish reflection nebula of the 9th magnitude star immediately below and to the right, SU Aurigae.

The dark nebulae are B26, B27 and B28, from Edward E. Barnard's 1919 catalog of dark nebulae. The dark and reflection nebulae are all due to the extensive interstellar dust clouds in this region of the sky.

My favorite part of this image is the wispy nebulae detail which envelops both AB Aurigae and SU Aurigae. These nebulae are actually circumstellar protoplanetary disks around these two fairly young stars. Planet formation is suspected in these disks, but no planets have been confirmed yet. These two stars are about the same distance away from us and the two may form a very wide binary system.

The object looks a bit like a superhero blackbird flying over, towards the top right.

The refractors!
Cloudy Nights
ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M

Dark Nebulae
Reflection Nebulae
YSOs (Young Star Objects)

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	2531622
PixInsight job	QKXGDQCR57TQZ8UMRVDO7W6J2JW0QP79
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	04h55m16s.892
RA (top/left)	04h53m38s.513
RA (top/right)	04h56m44s.250
RA (bottom/right)	04h56m55s.738
RA (bottom/left)	04h53m49s.233

Dec (center)	+30°37′14″.71
Dec (top/left)	+30°23′56″.82
Dec (top/right)	+30°20′43″.25
Dec (bottom/right)	+30°50′28″.18
Dec (bottom/left)	+30°53′42″.100

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vdB 31 (2019)

vdB 31 (2019)

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