Dark Nebula along the Cassiopeia/Camelpardalis border
Published 2 Nov 22

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About this object

About 3 degrees east of the famous Soul Nebula and right on the border between Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis lies a rather long area of dark molecular clouds within a larger area of background HII emission. A good portion of these molecular clouds are part of Lynds Catalog of Dark Nebulae which is a list assembled by Beverly Lynds in the 1950s-1960s. These dense molecular clouds are often areas of star formation and indeed there are at least two easily visible young stellar objects (YSO) within the image and nine LDN objects (1378-1386). The annotated image circles these LDN objects along with a few background galaxies and the YSO's. This area also has a large area of HII emission and some brighter un-catalogued emission nebula and is part of the larger Sharpless 2-202 area. Just left of center is the large (29 arc minute) Stock 23 open star cluster which lies 1200 light years distant. This star cluster seems to reside in a faint bluish haze and some wisps of reflection nebulosity are visible in the full res view.
Image Details

  • Optics : Stellarvue SVX 152T refractor @f8 1200mm FL
  • Mount: Paramount MYT
  • Camera: ZWO ASI6200
  • Filters: Chroma 50mm LRGB, Astrodon 50mm 5nm Ha
  • Exposure (min): LRGBHa 180:240:240:240:1200 14hr 33min, 2x2 binning
  • Automation Control: The Sky X, Voyager, PrimaluceLab Eagle 4
  • Guiding: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2
  • Processing Software: PixInsight, PS CC
  • Location: Okie Tex Star Party, Kenton OK
  • Sky: Typical SQM 21.8
  • Date: 24-30 Sep 22
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