Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  Iris Nebula  ·  NGC 7023
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Sh2-136 and vicinity, David Elmore
Sh2-136 and vicinity
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Sh2-136 and vicinity

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Sh2-136 and vicinity, David Elmore
Sh2-136 and vicinity
Powered byPixInsight

Sh2-136 and vicinity

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Description

In the pursuit of ever smaller Sharpless Catalog objects this field  planned to capture Sh2-136, the small nebula center top.   Since the Iris Nebula was nearby, I included it in the field.  Sharpless objects are supposed to be red Hydrogen-alpha emitting objects so I chose to image in narrowband.  But Sh2-136 is not an HII region but rather a reflection nebula.  The molecular clouds and nebula, especially the gorgeous blue reflection of the Iris would have shown up better in RGB.
Of interest is the bright red star near the center of the field.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about T Cephei.

T Cephei is a Mira variable star in the constellation Cepheus. Located approximately 600 light-years (180 parsecs) distant, it varies between magnitudes 5.2 and 11.3 over a period of around 388 days. (Estimating from nearby stars it is currently about magnitude 7 — DFE)
T Cephei is a red giant of spectral type M6-9e with an effective temperature 2,400 K, a radius of 329 R☉, a mass of 0.55 M☉, and a luminosity of 5,700 L☉. If it were in the place of the Sun, its photosphere would at least engulf the orbit of Mars. This star is believed to be in a late stage of its life, blowing off its own atmosphere to form a white dwarf in a distant future.

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Sh2-136 and vicinity, David Elmore