Barnard 347

Barnard 347 is a very dense dark nebula seen against the left (eastern) wing of the Butterfly Nebula beside Sadr the star at the cross point of the Northern Cross/Cygnus the Swan. The entire nebula complex around Sadr is IC 1318 The blue reflection nebula in the upper right corner is GN 20.25.3 though its position is centered on the orange star to its left. But then I find many bright nebulae don't seem to fit their centered position. The slightly brighter nebula clouds above Barnard 347 is DWB 76. There are many other bright and dark nebulae listed in SIMBAD but they are so poorly defined I won't point them out.

The sky says Sadr is 1500 light-years away. Most estimates of the nebula's distance put it 2,000 to 5,000 light-years distant indicating Sadr isn't likely the illuminating source. The nebula appears rather thin as stars are easily seen through it except where there are dark nebulae obscuring the bright nebula and stars such as Barnard 347. I find no attempt to put a distance on Barnard 347. So it may be a dense cold region in the otherwise warm hydrogen that is collapsing to form stars or it is in the foreground. The fact a few stars are seen against the dark cloud's densest region would argue it is sufficiently distant that at least some foreground stars have a reasonable change of getting in front of it. That may argue it is a cold dense region in the bright nebulae.

The sky says the blue star at the heart of GN 20.25.3 is only 37 light-years away. That seems unlikely for the nebula's distance so something else must be illuminating it. The orange star to the left is a bit more distant at 167 light-years, still close. Such red stars rarely create blue reflection nebula though can when the nebula is directly in front of the star but that isn't the case here. So I have no idea what is lighting up this reflection nebula unless it is so close. If so it may be the closest reflection nebula to us. Certainly closest I know of. The dust lit by M45's stars are the closest I was aware of. Maybe someone out there can fill solve this issue.

I have no idea why I took three blue frames. I left no notes that indicated this was planned. Likely a typo in my script file is to blame.

I've included a reduced version that better fits monitors that is at 1.5" per pixel besides my normal 1" per pixel version.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RG=2x10' B=3x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick

Rick,

a striking image, especially with the small reflection nebula contrasting
with the main object.

Stefan

"WA0CKY" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...


Barnard 347 is a very dense dark nebula seen against the left (eastern)
wing of the Butterfly Nebula beside Sadr the star at the cross point of
the Northern Cross/Cygnus the Swan. The entire nebula complex around
Sadr is IC 1318 The blue reflection nebula in the upper right corner is
GN 20.25.3 though its position is centered on the orange star to its
left. But then I find many bright nebulae don't seem to fit their
centered position. The slightly brighter nebula clouds above Barnard
347 is DWB 76. There are many other bright and dark nebulae listed in
SIMBAD but they are so poorly defined I won't point them out.

The sky says Sadr is 1500 light-years away. Most estimates of the
nebula's distance put it 2,000 to 5,000 light-years distant indicating
Sadr isn't likely the illuminating source. The nebula appears rather
thin as stars are easily seen through it except where there are dark
nebulae obscuring the bright nebula and stars such as Barnard 347. I
find no attempt to put a distance on Barnard 347. So it may be a dense
cold region in the otherwise warm hydrogen that is collapsing to form
stars or it is in the foreground. The fact a few stars are seen against
the dark cloud's densest region would argue it is sufficiently distant
that at least some foreground stars have a reasonable change of getting
in front of it. That may argue it is a cold dense region in the bright
nebulae.

The sky says the blue star at the heart of GN 20.25.3 is only 37
light-years away. That seems unlikely for the nebula's distance so
something else must be illuminating it. The orange star to the left is
a bit more distant at 167 light-years, still close. Such red stars
rarely create blue reflection nebula though can when the nebula is
directly in front of the star but that isn't the case here. So I have
no idea what is lighting up this reflection nebula unless it is so
close. If so it may be the closest reflection nebula to us. Certainly
closest I know of. The dust lit by M45's stars are the closest I was
aware of. Maybe someone out there can fill solve this issue.

I have no idea why I took three blue frames. I left no notes that
indicated this was planned. Likely a typo in my script file is to
blame.

I've included a reduced version that better fits monitors that is at
1.5" per pixel besides my normal 1" per pixel version.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' RG=2x10' B=3x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick


--
WA0CKY