Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Monoceros (Mon)  ·  Contains:  B39  ·  NGC 2259
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Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard

Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259

Revision title: v3

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Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard

Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259

Revision title: v3

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Description

I took advantage of the first two nights of almost clear skies for weeks now to observe this rarely imaged part of the sky that I had on my wishlist for some time. I initially explored the possibility that the RGB signal brought something interesting, but I was wrong. Of the hours invested in the RGB exposure, only the stars shown here survived. The rest is pure HOO.

A wide field image of the Fox Fur Nebula area is visible here.

I found very little specific information regarding the objects portrayed here.
I was particularly interested to the Star formation area LBN902, that in my opinion includes some potential HH objects, but I could find no info at all, not even on its distance, that I guess it is comparable to the OB1 Mon association, around 1000pc.

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Picture 1: Unprocessed detail from my image here, showing  a potential HH object inside LBN902


Another interesting object is the one with no name glowing in the bottom left corner of the main image, shown in detail in picture 2 below. Recently @Gary Imm discussed in detail the nature of the red emission of dark nebulae, named ERE (Extended Red Emission), that is not directly linked to ionization.
I quote Gary's interesting post: "ERE is a broad emission in the red band, peaking from 600 to 800 nm, detected in some interstellar objects such as planetary nebulae, reflection nebulae, and HII regions at high latitudes. It is thought to be the result of photoluminescence of dust by far-ultraviolet (FUV) photons, although its exact mechanism is still being debated in the scientific community. It is probably present in every interstellar dust object, but it is hard to detect because it is faint and is usually overwhelmed by brighter illumination sources such as reflected light and emission."

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Picture 2: glowing object with no name pointing in the direction of the Xmas tree cluster (out of field).

The other two prominent objects are the dark nebulae LDN1610 (B39) and LBN 1909. The interesting south tip of the V formation has again no specific name and has the aspect of an open mouth, again glowing in red.

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Picture 3: the characteristic V shaped Dark Nebula including LBN1610 (B39) and LDN1609. The south tip reminds the "mouth" of the famous CG4 Cometary Globule

Lastly, a few words regarding the open cluster NGC2259, also known as Collinder 108, which is much further away than the objects described before. It lays at distance of 3500pc, measured in 2021 with parallax method.

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Picture 4: the open cluster NGC2259, aka Cr 108, 10000 ly away from earth.

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  • Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
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    Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
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  • Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
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  • Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard
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Monoceros Skyscape: LBN902 Star Formation Area, V Shaped Dark Nebula, and the Cluster NGC2259, Mau_Bard