This image of stuff 1,400 light years away in Cepheus was a joy to work on. There's so very much going on in here--and there are a couple of mysteries I've been unable to solve.
The main focus of the shot is, of course, van den Bergh 152 (also catalogued as LBN 531), which is perched on the top (from this point of view--North is down and East is right) of the Barnard 175 Bok globule. Also atop B175 just to the right of vdB 152 is the tiny Herbig-Haro 450, visible as a red splotch. Tycho 4467-434-1, the star that is illuminating vdB 152 was probably not born in the surrounding dust and will eventually drift away from the main structure. But for now, it seems to be kicking up a swirling maelstrom in the dust and gas belonging to B175. Here's a crop that shows these specific objects more clearly as well as several small galaxies:
More prominently, the wispy supernova remnant G 110.3 +11.3 is visible in Ha coursing through the field from the Northeast toward the Southwest. Nearby is the planetary nebula Dengel-Hartl 5:
There are also a couple of prominent objects I've been unable to identify. I've started my own new personal catalogue and recorded these objects as WTF-1 and WTF-2. The first, WTF-1, appears to be a reflection nebula. There do seem to be some very faint emissions in O3, but the structure is revealed only in visible light.
On the other hand, I have no theories about WTF-2. To my eye, it has an appearance similar to the Hubble Variable Nebula (NGC 2261) near the Cone nebula in Monoceros. Perhaps it's just another reflection region. If anyone has any ideas about these two objects, I would be forever thankful if you edified me in the comments. I've looked through all the vdB objects and can't make a match with them, but I easily could have missed it.
Comments