Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  LBN 643  ·  LDN 1353  ·  LDN 1355  ·  LDN 1357  ·  LDN 1358  ·  RZ Cas  ·  SU Cas

Image of the day 06/12/2022

    Helping Hand Nebula, Darius Kopriva
    Powered byPixInsight

    Helping Hand Nebula

    Image of the day 06/12/2022

      Helping Hand Nebula, Darius Kopriva
      Powered byPixInsight

      Helping Hand Nebula

      Equipment

      Loading...

      Acquisition details

      Loading...

      Description

      This image shows a marvelous and busy area in the constellation Cassiopeia. It contains a large amount of dust, several dark nebula and several reflection nebula along with two interesting stars. In the center is the star SU Cassiopeiae which is a Cepheid variable at Mag 5.94. SU Cass is a Yellow giant with a spectral class of F5:lb-11. It's 19 times larger than our sun. SU Cass lies 1289 light years distant. Surrounding it is the blue reflection nebula VdB 9 which is lit up by SU Cass. The blue wisps extend quite a ways around this area. The other interesting star in the Upper center is the star RZ Cassiopeiae. RZ Cass is a white A3V main sequence star at mag 6.26. It's an eclipsing variable star which is 219 light years distant. The bluish nebulosity surrounding it is listed as VdB 7. However RZ Cass is apparently not the source to light up VdB 7 but another smaller 11th mag star nearby. Several dark nebula are in the Center of the image. The upper part of this nebula looks like an opened hand, hence the nickname (The helping hand). The dark area of the hand, near the top finger is designated as LDN 1357 and below it near the palm, LDN 1355. The long dark area near center right is the dark nebula LDN 1358. Throughout this entire area encompassing the field of view is lots of molecular dust of varying thickness and color.

      Comments

      Sky plot

      Sky plot

      Histogram

      Helping Hand Nebula, Darius Kopriva

      In these public groups

      Southern Hemisphere Astro