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V633 Cas and V376 Cas

00 11 25.97   +58 49 29.1   Cas   V633 Cas   V376 Cas

The bright bluish reflection nebula in the POSS image is VdB 1 in Cassiopeia, which is obvious and appears somewhat structured. On the left side, V633 Cassiopeiae (PP2) appears stellar within a diffuse halo that is extended toward SE. The ring structure could not be seen. V376 Cassiopeiae (PP3) is much more difficult and could be seen intermittently with averted vision with 350x. Associated with these two objects are Herbig-Haro objects HH161/162/164, which are, however, not to be confused with the reflection nebula visible in the image to the left. 

Image by Adam Block

Image by Stephane Zoll

Getman et al. (2002) ApJ 575:354

NGC 1333 in Perseus

03 29 02   +31 20 54   Per   NGC1333

At 350x, the region of NGC 1333 in Perseus can be decomposed into several regions. A northern RN around the bright star. In the middle part a large RN that is divided by a dark rift. SW of it is an extremely faint diffuse object (HH12). S of it is another extremely faint patch with several Herbig-Haro Objects (HH7-11).

Kitt Peak image

Image by Getman et al.

XY Persei

03 49 37.03   +38 58 57.6   Per   XY Per

At 200x, the VdB 24 RN of XY Persei is quite obvious around the star, extending in particular toward SW. No crescent shape could be discerned. The RN is terminated toward NW by a distinct dark band. Northern edge of band appeared defined, therefore additional nebulosity N of it is suspected.

Image by Adam Block

Kitt Peak image

Image by Capella

RY Tauri

04 21 56.75   +28 26 33.9   Tau   RY Tau

At 200x, RY Tauri has a distinct reflection nebula (vdB 27) that is fan-shaped extending from star to NW. The edge of the nebula is sharply defined toward S and E.

Gemini Observatory Image

T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555

04 22 00.00   +19 36 00.0   Tau   T Tauri

Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555, around the T Tauri prototype. With indirect vision, it is crescent shaped and W of T Tauri, winding around the star. The S end of the RN appears clearly divided. This is probably the structure marked with an arrow.

Image by Johannes Schedler

Kitt peak image

Image by Adam Block

Sharpless 239 in Taurus

04 31 16.80   +18 07 12.0   Tau   Sh2-239

At 100x, the few field stars outside Sharpless 239 in Taurus can be held steadily. With field sweeping and without filter, the nebula can be seen as a very weak, extended glow without internal structure, size and position matching the DSS print.

NE of Sh2-239, in the same molecular cloud are other YSOs, with HL and XZ Tauri being the brightest of them.

Image by Dean Salman

Image by Adam Block

HK Orionis

05 31 28.05   +12 09 10.2   Ori   HK Ori

With 200x, HK Orionis is easily seen as a relatively bright star. The reflection nebula Ced 51 was observed w/o filter as a faint brightening  NW of the star, extending somewhat in the direction of the nearby weaker star. The RN could be observed also with UHC filter, though the filter did not increase its visibility.

Image by Adam Block

The Keyhole Nebula, NGC 1999, around V380 Orions

05 36 27   -06 43 18   Ori   V380 Ori

NGC 1999 in Orion is an easy object already in smaller telescopes. The nebulosity is small. The star V380 Ori sits within the nebulosity at the edge of the keyhole shaped hole (which according to IR imaging with the Herschel Space Telescope is indeed a hole and not a dark Bok globule) to the W. HH1 and HH2 are to the S of NGC 1999. HH2 could be seen directly, while HH1 was an averted vision object.

Image by Adam Block

FU Orionis

05 45 22.4   +09 04 11   Ori   FU Ori

FU Orionis is a relatively bright star surrounded by the reflection nebula Ced 59. With 500x, an extremely faint nebulosity was detected surrounding the star, extending somewhat more towards SW. This is the prototype of the FUOr flare stars.

ESO/T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF and Igor Chekalin

McNeils' Nebula around V1647 Orionis

05h 47   + 04 45   Ori   V1647 Ori

Maybe you remember the sudden appearance of McNeil's Nebula in M78? This nebula was discovered photographically as a new object in the dusty landscape around M78 in 2004 by amateur observer Jay McNeil. At that time, it was accessible to visual observation. An attempt to observe the nebula in 2006 with my 22" Dob failed. In the end of 2008 it appeared to brighten again and I gave it another try.

It proved to be not exactly easy to locate the field. Due to the obscuring dark clouds, the environment of M78 lacks stars and star patterns suitable for star hopping, and the few remaining stars are considerably dimmed. It took me therefore some time to locate the precise position and to permanently hold the faint field stars. Close to the position of McNeil's Nebula is a close pair of stars, which are difficult to split visually due to their faintness. This double star forms an equilateral triangle with two other stars to the south and to the west. Mc Neil's nebula is next to the double star. I estimated the nebula's brightness to be somewhat lower than that of the combined double star, but it could be seen steadily with averted vision.

There are further YSOs toward S (not observed).

Re-observed in January 2011 with similar result. Towards the end of 2011, the nebula appears to have dimmed again and was not visible anymore (considerably dimmer than the two neighboring stars).

V1307 Orionis

06 01 59.99  +16 30 56.7   Ori   V1307 Ori

V1307 Orionis is a bright star with other bright stars in the same field. With 350x, a very faint elongated nebulosity was detected at the N side of the star. The nebulosity was better defined on its N side and relatively large. Quite similar to Hind's Variable Nebula.

Cederblad 62 in Orion

06 07 49.49   +18 39 27.0   Ori   Ced 62

Ced 62 (NGC 2163) is a bright bilobal nebula around HBC 193 at the border Orion/Gemini that is visible already in medium sized telescopes. Not precisely like an hourglas, the nebulosity is not fully constricted at the position of the star. W side is better defined. N fan is brighter and larger with a brighter streak at its W border. S fan is weaker and appears a bit separated from the star.

Rosette HH1 in Monoceros

06 32 20.79 +04 52 58.2    Mon   Rosette HH1

The Rosette HH1 results from outflow of a T Tauri star creating a jet. Under poor observing conditions the T Tauri star was steadily visible, but appeared only stellar.

Image: T. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

Hubble's Variable Nebula, NGC 2261, around R Monocerotis

06 39 09.51   +08 44 39.6   Mon   R Mon

With 350x, Hubble's Variable Nebula around R Monocerotis is very bright and quite evenly illuminated. It appears fan shaped, extending to the NE from the star, which is somewhat offset from the tip of the nebula. The fan is curved to the W, with its W side being longer than its E side.

STScI Image

DSS

Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona, 2011

Thommes' Nebula around V900 Monocerotis

06 57  22   -08  23  22   Mon   V900 Mon

Thommes' Nebula is a YSO discoverd by Jim Thommes in 2009 around the FUor V900 Mon.

At the eyepiece, this is a relatively easy YSO, appearing as clearly non-stellar direct vision object. At times, it appeared elongated with a tail-like feature pointing towards southern direction, possibly reflecting outflow.

Image by Jim Thommes

Image by Adam Block

HBC 547 / NGC 2316 / Parsamian 18 in Monoceros

06 59 41.56   -07 46 28.8   Mon   HBC 547

At 350x, HBC 547 is surrounded by a quite distinct nebula of round shape. There are two possibly stellar condensations within the nebula.

NGC 2316 is the embedding star cluster.

Z Canis Majoris

07 03 43.16   -11 33 06.2   CMa   Z CMa

At 500x, the FU Ori star Z Canis Majoris is quite bright. In 2017, the nebula is quite distinctly visible as a very elongated streak extending towards N and curving W. Another stubbier and less distinct extension is visible towards S. In 2011, the nebula was much more difficult.

This is one of the few YSOs where substantial variability can be detected on relatively short time scales.

HST

Gomez's Hamburger in Sagittarius

18 09 13   -32 10 48   Sag    IRAS 18059-3211

Gomez's Hamburger in Sagittarius was initially classified a proto-PN, but this is being debated. Recent papers classify this object as a YSO with protoplanetary disk (ironically, the term "protoplanetary" has two very different meanings in both object classes!).

I observed the Hamburger during a night with excellent transparency down to the horizon. The YSO  could be seen several times with indirect vision as an extremely faint stellar object.

wikipedia

Parsamian 21 in Aquila

19 29 01   +09 38 43   Aql   Parsamian 21

Parsamian 21 in Aquila is a very nice cometary nebula. It is relatively bright and immediately visible. It is elongated, extending from a bright knot (star?). According to the literature, it's light should be partially polarized. I could not detect any polarization using a linear polarizer.

GM 2-39 in Cygnus

20 17 08.05   +38 59 29.4   Cyg   GM 2-39

GM 2-39 in Cygnus  (from the catalog by  Gyulbudaghian & Maghakian) is a very small, but quite distinct and pretty nebula next to a prominent curved star chain. The small YSO appears at 350x as a very diffuse object that becomes very much brighter to the center. The core appears stellar and I suspected it after some time to be elongated somewhat in NS direction.

GM 1-27 / GN 20.18.3 in Cygnus

20 20 12.7   +37 10 09   Cyg   GM 1-27

I observed GM 1-27 (GN 20.18.3 in the Atlas Galaktischer Nebel) several times. The star superimposed on the RN appeared brighter than neighboring star NE. Nebulosity suspected.

Boyd, 2012SASS...31...65B, click on image for larger scale

Gyulbudaghian's Nebula, GM 1-29, around PV Cephei

20 45 54   67 57 51   Cep   PV Cep

PV Cephei and its associated RN, Gyulbudaghian's Nebula, are highly variable. While they used to be accessible even to smaller telescopes during the last outburst in 2004, they were during their quiet phase in the following years very difficult even for large telescopes.

09/2008: nothing visible, neither nebula nor star PV Cep

07/2010: dito

08/2010: star suspected a few times, doubtful

10/2010: intermittently an extremely faint and somewhat extended object was observed at the location with indirect vision

10/2011: extremely faint, rather stellar object visible. This observation could as well have been a small bright knot in the nebula, as suggested by the set of images on the lower left side.

08/2012: Nothing :-(

Outburst 2013-2016

08/2013: The nebula has considerably brightened and is now visible as a relatively bright fan-shaped glow, even with direct vision. PV Cep, the star, could not be discerned. Was observed by others with apertures down to 12"

09/2013 bright, fan shaped, direct vision

10/2014 much fainter, only a structureless glow with averted vision

11/2015 nebula is immediately visible, but fainter than in 2013, it appears with indirect vision fan shaped with an angle of approximately 60°, PV Cep is visible indirectly  as a very faint stellar point

10/2016 nebula is fairly bright, PV Cep is permanently visible

10/2017 end of the outburst, neither star nor nebula are visible :-(

Boyd, 2012SASS...31...65B

Caratti et al., 2013

Image by Adam Block

Kitt Peak image

RNO 129 in Cepheus

20 59 14.09   +78 23 04.0   Cep    RNO 129

Observed with 200x and (better) with 350x. RNO 129 with the reflection nebula GN 21.00.4 is positioned between two stars, A and B. A is bright, B is dimmer and consists of several stars. Both are directly visible. Between both, closer to B is a diffuse, non-stellar something, which can be seen with indirect vision about 50% of the time. I cannot make out any details. Looks quite similar to one of those very faint Hickson groups. .

V1331 Cygni

21 01 09.21   +50 21 44.8   Cyg   V1331 Cyg

V1331 Cygni is a very interesting object on the DSS image. But while the star itself is bright and easy, the ring is exceedingly difficult. At times, an extremely faint "envelope" was suspected around the star, at least on one side.

image credit (above and left): Quanz et al., ApJ (2007) 256:287

This HST image shows the environment of V1331 Cyg with the star (left) and with the star subtracted (right), revealing an additional inner ring.

Image by Adam Block

G98-171 around V1982 Cygni

21 03 55.92   +50 14 24.0   Cyg   V1982 Cygni

Gyulbudaghian 98-171 around V1982 Cygni is a relatively bright object. At 350x, the nebula is immediately visible, extending E of V1982. It appears at times as a fairly defined streak with another stellar object at its eastern tip, which is HBC 727.

V645 Cygni (Duck Nebula)

21 39 58.24   +50 14 21.2   Cyg    V 645 Cyg

At 350x, V645 Cygni appears directly as a stellar object visible with direct vision. Indirectly, a distinct small cometary tail appears that is oriented to the W. Comparatively easy target.

Contains HH118.

paper by Goodrich

V375 Lacertae

22 34 41.04   +40 40 03.6   Lac   V 375 Lac

V375 Lacertae appears as a weak stellar object. Extremely faint extension to SW were only suspected. The embedding nebulosity is Sharpless 126.

V628 Cassiopeiae

23 17 25.57   +60 50 43.3   Cas   V628 Cas

With 7 mm, V628 Cassiopeiae appears bright and stellar with direct vision. With indirect vision, I suspected an extended glow to the E.

image by Chuck Vaughn

LKHa 259 in Cepheus

23 58 41.54   +66 26 12.9   Cep  LkHa 259

With LKHa 259 in Cepheus, a faint glow could be seen relatively easily, which is condensed to the middle with a stellar center. Sometimes, the nebula appeared fan shaped, with the broader side opening to NW.

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