Van den Bergh 152: Halpha added

Widefield image of a region of Cepheus with special interest in van den Bergh 152 (vdB 152, also known as Cederblad 201, or the Wolf's Cave Nebula), the blue reflection nebula on the right-center and Dengel-Hartl 5 (DeHt5, PK 111 +11.1) the planetary nebula on the bottom (a bit on the left), but including also many other interesting objects: LDN1217, LDN1219, B175…

VdB 152 is a fascinating celestial object located about 1400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus, in a region rich in dark nebulae and star fields. It is actually not a single nebula, but rather a combination of two different types: a reflection nebula and a dark nebula. 

The most striking part of vdB 152 is the bright blue reflection nebula. Its colour is due to starlight reflecting off the dust particles in the nebula. The star responsible for this illumination is a large star (BD +69 1231 or SAO 10287), which is located within the nebula itself.

However, there is much more to vdB 152 than meets the eye. The reflection nebula sits above a vast dark cloud known as Barnard 175. B175 is a Bok globule, a type of dense cloud where new stars are born. The darkness of Barnard 175 creates a spectacular contrast with the vibrant blue reflection nebula.

The thin, red filaments clearly visible in the image are from a supernova remnant (SNR G 110.3 +11.3).  

Dengel-Hartl 5 (DeHt 5) is a HII & OIII region, ionized by the white dwarf WD 2218+706 (a blue star near the centre of the nebula). The Lynds catalogue of bright nebulae lists the brightest part as LBN 538. 

Regarding the image (taken with my usual setup TOA-150 and STL-11000M camera), I presented the RGB version in January 2023, and at that time I wrote: "A few weeks ago I saw a nice Apod image of this field in HaRGB. As I had imaged it in the past but in RGB only, I decided to add some Hydrogen alpha data next summer...". Well, it was not possible for me to add that exposure last year, but this year I have managed to do so.

And also, as I have been able to see during this time, Aleix Roig's magnificent image of this area... I have also added some exposure in OIII (mainly for DeHt 5):  thank you very much for the idea, Aleix!.

The image is therefore now 13.5 hours in RGB, 10 hours in Hydrogen alpha and 4.5 hours in Oxygen III: a total accumulated exposure of 28 hours.

The first image shows the complete widefield (note the images are rotated 90º CCW) covering about two degrees of sky (at 1.69 "/pixel resolution).

The second image is a crop, at full resolution, centred on vdB 152. The image shows detail in the reflection nebula, as well as the filaments of the supernova remnant.

The third image is a crop, also at full resolution, centred on Dengel-Hartl 5.  

Click on the images for a higher or full resolution version, or go to the Gallery section for complete exposure details.

Image processing: Pixinsight.

Observatory automation and remote operation with Talon6.