This
Astrobin Debut Object is a small faint reflection nebula located 1300 light years away in the constellation of Orion at a declination of +5 degrees. It spans 2.6 arc-minutes in our apparent view. This corresponds to a width of 1 light year.
This asymmetric nebula surrounds the 8.5 magnitude orange source star HD 39398. I find it interesting that the nebula has a bit of a bluish tint even though the source star is orange.
After my
last vdB post of a vdB object (rated 0 on a scale of 0 to 5), this one (rated a 1) looks positively spectacular by comparison.
Sidney van den Bergh published his vdB catalog of reflection nebulae in 1966. It was later expanded by one for a total of 159. The collection encompassed all reflection nebulosity visible on the Palomar Sky Survey north of -33 degrees latitude. My Astrobin vdB Collection, which is about 90% complete, is
here.
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FYI, my presence on Astrobin will be reduced for the rest of the month due to vacations, family visits and a summer children's astronomy library event. I hope that all of you are enjoying a great summer with clear skies.
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