Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)
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New Discovery: The Fallen Soldier Nebula Complex (Sazhen 1, 2; Van Wulfen 148), Vlad Sazhen
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New Discovery: The Fallen Soldier Nebula Complex (Sazhen 1, 2; Van Wulfen 148)

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Description

New Discovery!

This is a previously undocumented reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. 

First of all, the brighter nebula was discovered by Victor van Wulfen and was reported on his website clearskies.eu on March 17th, 2023. After conducting extensive research, however, the two smaller nebulae appear to be illuminated by the star Gaia DR3 2227068533003854208 (Southernmost nebula), and the Easternmost nebula (dimmer one) by the star TYC 4482-1398-1. The dark nebula that these stars illuminate is documented as DOBASHI 3564, where the same cloud complex is sometimes listed as TGU H757. In 2011, Katzuhito Dobashi published a paper, or rather a revised catalog, listing dark nebulae based on the 2MASS PSC. His tables are referenced in several French scientific papers. However, all of them fail to address the illuminated part of the dark nebula.
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The Fallen Soldier Nebula can be found at:
RA 23 15 38, DEC +69 50 58

Structure of the Nebula
The structure of the nebula is most apparent in the blue channel. The red signal is far less strong in the data. 
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Region
The region where the Fallen Soldier Nebula is located is filled with other reflection nebulae. The closest one to it is vdB 157. The closest well-known ones are the Wolf Cave nebulae complex. Cepheus is filled with many reflection nebulae. There are other candidates for becoming a new discovery, so I would like to encourage you to also search for them! If the nebula is undocumented, conduct some research, make conclusions, and document it! There's plenty more to find.

Naming
The Fallen Soldier Nebula discovery is dedicated to all the soldiers who lost their lives defending Ukraine, my homeland, from the Russian army. Please continue supporting Ukraine.

References
As currently there is no official revised reflection nebula catalog that includes modern amateur discoveries, I will put all the necessary information for the identification of the said nebula below.

Common names for the two stars illuminating two nebulae:
Gaia DR3 2227068533003854208

2MASS J23151421+6955485
TIC 422606891TYC 4482-1398-1Gaia DR3 2227067055535104768


Referenced papers:
Kazuhito Dobashi, Atlas and Catalog of Dark Clouds Based on the 2 Micron All Sky Survey, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Volume 63, Issue sp1, 25 January 2011, Pages S1–S362, https://doi.org/10.1093/pasj/63.sp1.S1

Kazuhito Dobashi and others, Atlas and Catalog of Dark Clouds Based on Digitized Sky Survey I, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Volume 57, Issue sp1, 28 February 2005, Pages S1–S386, https://doi.org/10.1093/pasj/57.sp1.S1

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New Discovery: The Fallen Soldier Nebula Complex (Sazhen 1, 2; Van Wulfen 148), Vlad Sazhen