This pair of faint molecular clouds is located about 800 light years away in the constellation of Pisces at a declination of +17 degrees. As is typically the case, the objects are numbered in the order of increasing right ascension, which goes from right to left in north up images such as this one. So LBN 639 is on the right half and LBN 644 is on the left half.
According to
Jim Thommes, both of these objects are part of larger molecular clouds which are about 800 light years away. Each nebula is about 1 degree is size, which corresponds to a length of 1 light year.
The
Lynds Bright Nebulae Catalogue consists of 1025 bright nebulae published by US astronomer Beverly Turner Lynds in 1965. The survey used the 48-inch Palomar telescope and includes all significant bright nebulosity (excluding PN) down to the -33 degrees declination limit of the telescope. The LBN catalogue includes many objects from more popular catalogues such as Sh-2.
I love examining faint dust clouds such as these. I wish I knew more about how they are formed and shaped.
Several galaxies are seen in the distance, much further away than these molecular clouds. The galaxies range in distance from 100 to 500 million light years, over 100,000 times further away than the clouds.
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