Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  42 Cyg  ·  44 Cyg  ·  LBN 218  ·  LBN 219  ·  The star 42 Cyg  ·  The star 44 Cyg
Fifty shades of VdB 133. And the nameless blue, Konstantin Firsov
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Fifty shades of VdB 133. And the nameless blue

Fifty shades of VdB 133. And the nameless blue, Konstantin Firsov
Powered byPixInsight

Fifty shades of VdB 133. And the nameless blue

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Description

The VdB133 reflection nebula (aka LBN218) is illuminated by 44 Cygni. It's a double star with the brighter component being a yellow supergiant. And so I was surprised by the bluish tint of some areas of the reflection nebula. At first I thought that I made a wrong black reference leading to the colors shift, but other photos of this object on the web show the similar colors. If I am not mistaken about how it works, 44 Cygni may be partially immersed in a dust cloud or is relatively close to it. Therefore, the light reflected from the areas behind the star is yellowish. At the same time the foreground nebuosity has a bluish tint because of light scattering. The same way that makes our sky look blue.

The blue reflection nebula around 42 Cygni does not seem to be included in any catalog. At least Simbad is unaware.

As always, the data was collected at my dark sites, 1-2 hours of driving, Bortle 3-4

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Fifty shades of VdB 133. And the nameless blue, Konstantin Firsov