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Do you think this is a reflection nebula?

Request for feedback Reflection Nebula Dark Nebula Citizen Science
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Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Hi all,

Recently I stumbled upon a yet undocumented reflection nebula. As you can see from the attached photo, the star (the position of which is marked with a red circle) illuminates a part of the documented dark nebula. CDS Portal recognizes the dark nebula but does not show any hints of the reflection nebula.  All the papers connected with the dark nebula do not mention anything about the reflection nebula either. That being said, would you consider this as a discovery of the reflection nebula? 

Thanks,
Vlad
Well Written Insightful Respectful Engaging
Oscar avatar
Oscar avatar
You might be able to find it here https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/AladinLite/
Oscar avatar
Oscar avatar
Press the "stack" button and the triangle arrow button and change the stretch to the necessary setting (you can try sqrt)
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
You might be able to find it here https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/AladinLite/

Yes, it is visible on Aladin, that was one of the first things I checked. However, this nebula was not documented anywhere.
Well Written
Bob Lockwood avatar
Bob Lockwood avatar
Am I missing some information hear. No color makes it hard to tell, for now, it just looks like an Ha or lum image to me.
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Bob Lockwood:
Am I missing some information hear. No color makes it hard to tell, for now, it just looks like an Ha or lum image to me.

Yes, sorry I forgot to mention the details. This is a blue channel. This nebula is weak in all other channels.
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Here is a rough view of noisy data. I will be collecting more light as the weather allows. Don't take the shape for granted for now because this was heavily stretched and denoised with noisexterminator.
Oscar avatar
Oscar avatar
Vlad Sazhen:
You might be able to find it here https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/AladinLite/

Yes, it is visible on Aladin, that was one of the first things I checked. However, this nebula was not documented anywhere.

Since that's the case, and it's very visible in the blue channel, I think it's a new discovery.
Die Launische Diva avatar
Die Launische Diva avatar
You are missing the most important information, probably due to your excitement smile! Where is the object located?
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Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Die Launische Diva:
You are missing the most important information, probably due to your excitement ! Where is the object located?

The object is located not too far away from several confirmed reflection nebulae. 
The other reflection nebulae were documented, and I assume because 1) some of them are brighter, 2) they are connected to stars that were of interest for research. The star that illuminates this potential ref neb isn't well covered in papers, so I presume it's not that interesting to astronomers, at least now.
ShelbyCouper avatar
ShelbyCouper avatar
We need the location of the closest reflection nebulae to this.
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
We need the location of the closest reflection nebulae to this.

I will share more once I gather more data, but so far everything points to it being a ref neb.
ShelbyCouper avatar
ShelbyCouper avatar
I would like to try my hand at capturing this also. I’ve been focusing mostly on Cepheus and Cygnus lately with some Cassiopeia thrown in for fun. What is the FL you are using at the moment?
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Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
I would like to try my hand at capturing this also. I’ve been focusing mostly on Cepheus and Cygnus lately with some Cassiopeia thrown in for fun. What is the FL you are using at the moment?

This is a pretty dim nebula. In fact, because it is so dim I rented a remote scope to get some good data of it which I will later be combining with the data from my scope. Once I receive the remote data and if it turns out to be a reflection nebula, I will make a public announcement with all the info

However, to get the idea of its brightness, you can try capturing the Hummingbird nebula that Nico Carver discovered or the reflection nebula in the dark shark nebula.
Bob Lockwood avatar
Bob Lockwood avatar
If you wanted to keep this a secret, why'd you bring it up in the first place. Yes it's blue, a reflection nebula most likely.
Why not let us little guys see if we can see it on are own. You won't even post it with stars to give it's location away.
Oscar avatar
Oscar avatar
@Vlad Sazhen  I recommend not telling any person the coordinates until you publish your whole finished RGB image, including the data you get from the remote telescope, with stars, then we could figure out if it is new or not.

The other guys can wait a little. It is all about patience. 
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Bob Lockwood:
If you wanted to keep this a secret, why'd you bring it up in the first place. Yes it's blue, a reflection nebula most likely.
Why not let us little guys see if we can see it on are own. You won't even post it with stars to give it's location away.

Because my original question was whether a reflection that wasn't documented before and is a part of the known dark nebula can be considered a new discovery. Now that I heard people's opinions, including the ones outside of the discussion here, I'm heavily leaning to it being so. 
@Vlad Sazhen  I recommend not telling any person the coordinates until you publish your whole finished RGB image, including the data you get from the remote telescope, with stars, then we could figure out if it is new or not.

The other guys can wait a little. It is all about patience. 

Thanks! Yes, I will post a full image with stars once I make a public announcement.
Vlad Sazhen avatar
Vlad Sazhen avatar