vdB7
Reflection Nebula in Cassiopeia
About
A small reflection nebula in Cassiopeia, just south of the eclipsing variable RZ Cassiopeiae. RZ Cas is not what lights it: an eleventh-magnitude star does. It lies about 1,400 light-years away, in a molecular cloud shared with vdB 9 and the dark clouds LDN 1355 and 1358.
Imaging tips
- One source gives about 3′ across, so it is too small to frame: use a long focal length and a fine pixel scale.
- Reflection nebulae need broadband. One imager took 200 minutes of LRGB (five ten-minute subs per channel) on a 12-inch f/3.6 astrograph.
- vdB 9 lies in the same cloud, and one imager framed both in a single image: 14 eight-minute subs with a light-pollution filter, cropped to about 600 mm equivalent.
- Best in October and November, peaking near 70° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 5′
- Magnitude
- —
- Coordinates
- RA 2h 48.7m, Dec +69° 36′
- Framing, APS-C
- longer than 4000 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Oct, Nov
- Peak altitude
- 70° from 50°N, 55° from 35°N