vdB141, the Ghost Nebula Region |
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vdB 141, highlighted in the 100% inset below,
is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. The "vdB"
in the catalog number stands for "van den Bergh", which is a
catalog of reflection nebulae created by Sidney van den Bergh in
1966. By its shape, it has earned the nickname "The Ghost
Nebula". Though when I first saw a high-resolution close-up
image of this object, the first thing that leapt to my mind was
a trio of dancers traipsing under a sheet. Granted, given the
"sheet", ghosts come to mind. But the term "ghost" invokes
fearful images of spectres haunting and spooking us. The poses
of the "ghosts" evokes a feeling of joy to me, as the "dancers"
reach for the sky, with the most prominent one (near the bright
star) acting out a bird taking flight.
No matter our interpretation of these images in our human minds,
these shapes are clouds of dust faintly reflecting the light
from nearby stars. The dark region to the right of the dancers
is a dust cloud collapsing and likely forming a star, possibly
even a binary star.
The detached cloud soaring above the "dancers" looks like a bird
taking flight in longer-focal-length images. I could not find
any designations for any of the other objects in this wide field
image, but that detached soaring cloud, which my wife says
resembles a "Bat Signal", has been identified by some pages as "vdB
141 South".
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Constellation: Cepheus |
When Visible: August - January |
Distance:
1,200 Light-years |
Date:
November 2011 |
Location: Rancho Hidalgo, Animas, NM |
Exposure Details:
L: 35 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
R: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
G: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
B: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
13 hours and 20 minutes total exposure time |
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Equipment Used:
Takahashi TOA-130F on an Astro-Physics AP1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303E
camera with FW8-STL filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB and narrowband filters. Robofocus focuser and Astrodon Takometer rotator. |
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Acquisition Software :
MaximDL 5, TheSky6, CCDAutopilot 5, FocusMax, Takometer Controller |
Processing Software:
MaximDL, Photoshop CS, Carboni Actions, IrFanView |
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The large image linked to above is only 75% of the
original sized image. Here is a 100% sized crop of vdB141: |