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Angel Nebula Complex, Timothy Martin
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Angel Nebula Complex

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Angel Nebula Complex, Timothy Martin
Powered byPixInsight

Angel Nebula Complex

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Description

The typical catalog entries used for this area are NGC 2170 or vdB 67. But there's so much more going on here. There are six van den Bergh reflection nebulas in this field (vdBs 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, and 74) as well as several hydrogen emission regions, dark molecular clouds, black absorption lanes, and many large, hot young stars that power it all. Yet there are many other reflection nebulas that to my knowledge have no official catalog entries. So I have added those to my personal WTF catalog as WTF 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8. 

Presented in true color, the range of hues and shapes in this region is astounding. Aptly named the Angel nebula, the large angel in the upper right seems to be accompanied by cherubim, seraphim, and other heavenly entities (the depictions of these mythical entities in Renaissance artwork more closely resembles these cosmic objects than the biblical or traditional descriptions do). 

Please forgive my astropedantry, but I've cropped out many of these objects here in the description to make them a little more accessible. When I finally get the CDK up and running at Deep Sky West, I intend to shoot many of these objects up close with a much longer focal length. 

vdB 67/NGC 2170 appears to be the halo next to the red-orange fiery "face" of the Angel, which I've included in the crop. There's also an uncatalogued reflection nebula in the lower right corner of the frame. I decided not to include that in the WTF catalogue because it's possible that object may be considered to be part of vdB 67 or NGC 2170:
vdB 67.jpg

One of the most striking features in this region is the floral vdB 68, which perhaps represents an unfurled wing:
vdB 68.jpg

Below that lies vdB 69, wispy and wind blown by strong stellar outflows:
vdB 69.jpg

Moving down and to the left, you can find the more classic-looking blue reflection nebula, vdB 72:
vdB 72.jpg

Continuing in that direction, you can see the fascinating vdB 73, which displays some of the same colorful characteristics found in and around vdB 67:
vdB 73.jpg

Moving on, you can find the final vdB object in the frame, the relatively simple vdB 74:
vdB 74.jpg

The various vdB objects are all intriguing, beautiful, and deserve their own high-focal-length treatments, but I'm even more drawn to the several significant areas for which I can find no documentation. The first of these is WTF 3, which fall very close to the star Gamma Monocerotis (visible in the lower-left corner of the wide-field revision and surrounded by LBNs 1003 & 1004). There are actually at least four distinct reflection regions here, but I've lumped them into one because they seem to be related--at least in proximity:
WTF 3.jpg

Next up is WTF 5, a reflection area surrounded by dark molecular clouds. This appears to the right of the Angel:
WTF 5.jpg

Directly below that in the lower-right corner of the frame, you can find WTF 6, a dark molecular cloud glowing orange in some spots because of what appear to be hot internal stars:
WTF 6.jpg

Moving to the left, you can see WTF 7, a similar area of dark dust with some orange-yellow features:
WTF 7.jpg

And finally, in the lower left of the frame, WTF 8 appears showing blue reflection features, dark clouds, and glowing dust:
WTF 8.jpg

Thanks for indulging me in this. Of course, anyone here on Astrobin can zoom in on the full-res image any time they want. But doing this at least allows me to document my meager findings and will serve as my own guide for future, longer-focal-length target selection.

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