Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Vulpecula (Vul)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6823
SH2-86 in SHO, Team OURANOS
SH2-86 in SHO
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SH2-86 in SHO

SH2-86 in SHO, Team OURANOS
SH2-86 in SHO
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SH2-86 in SHO

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Description

While the apparent size of this nebula may seem modest compared to the "big" nebulae of the summer, it nevertheless extends over 40′, more than the apparent size of the full Moon. Unfortunately, its very low surface brightness classifies it as a "difficult" object to image correctly with a good signal-to-noise ratio.

Nevertheless, this nebula is not lacking in interest and presents fine details, particularly in the darker areas with the presence of "pillars" (similar to the famous "pillars" of the M16 nebula), which are active sites of star formation.

As a result of this star-forming activity, the open cluster NGC 6823 occupies the center of this nebula. The stars at the center of this cluster, born barely 2 million years ago as a result of the collapse of certain parts of the nebula (the "pillars" that have now disappeared...), are predominantly bright blue stars, i.e. hot and very luminous, particularly in the ultraviolet. These stars, born of the gas cloud, illuminate and ionize the latter, making the nebula visible, particularly in the Ha line of hydrogen.

Within this nebula, we can observe more advanced stages of erosion caused by the radiation of new stars: the fragmentation of the pillars into several smaller, denser and more compact globules of gas and dust, the result of the gravitational collapse of the surrounding matter. It's within these "bok" globules, opaque to visible radiation, that new stars are born.

This nebula, which, like the open cluster, extends over a diameter of around 50 light-years, is actually part of a much larger gas cloud (called SH2-86), which extends as far as the constellation of Cygnus...

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SH2-86 in SHO, Team OURANOS