This object is a series of dark nebulae located in the constellation of Taurus at a declination of +26 degrees. The dark nebulae are the 14th, 22nd, and 220th entries in Barnard's Dark Nebula Collection. As shown on the mouseover, Barnard 14 and 220 are both darker areas within Barnard 22.

Three reflection nebulae are seen within the dark nebula. Just below image center is the colorful reflection nebula IC 2087. I have never seen a reflection nebula quite like this one, with a rainbow color scheme.  IC 2087 is located 500 light years away and spans 6 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This corresponds to a width of 1 light year.  A longer focal length image of this object is shown here:

IC 2087


To the upper right of IC 2087 is the faint reflection nebula GN 04.35.4, and to the lower left is another reflection nebula GN 04.39.1. The bright blue star at lower right is 6.2 magnitude HD 29459.

At the bottom edge of the image, slight right of center, is a fascinating object called PK174-14.1, as shown in the mouseover.  This object is also known as Haro 3-29:

Haro 3-29

This small colorful object is located 15,000 light years away.  This is the only object I know which has a galaxy designation (V ZW 375), a planetary nebula designation (Haro 3-29), and a star designation (GL Tau).  So, what is it?  The earliest work by Dr. Haro (1953) concluded that this is a variable star with a surrounding nebula, but this work in Mexico was not widely known.  Later work by Dr. Zwicky resulted in its designation as V ZW 375, a compact galaxy.  But then work by Dr. Sargent (1970) concluded that this object was in our galaxy and was a planetary nebula.  Measurements by Dr. Romano (1974) indicated that the central star is variable from 15.7 to 17.5.

Although it has the shape of a ring galaxy, the colors and the central star suggest that it is a nebula.  It is likely a planetary nebula, but if so, it is one of the most unusual ones in the universe.  The asymmetric shape, the void area just below the central star, and the location of the emission regions (HII inside and OIII at the top) are very unusual.

This object has a diameter of 30 arc-seconds, which at a distance of 15,000 light years corresponds to a diameter of 2 light years.  This is a typical diameter for a planetary nebula.