Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  HD196018  ·  HD196090  ·  HD196178  ·  LBN 357  ·  LBN 358  ·  LBN 362  ·  PK085+04.1  ·  Sh2-115  ·  Sh2-116
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Sh2-115 and Sh2-116, Massimo Di Fusco
Sh2-115 and Sh2-116, Massimo Di Fusco

Sh2-115 and Sh2-116

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Sh2-115 and Sh2-116, Massimo Di Fusco
Sh2-115 and Sh2-116, Massimo Di Fusco

Sh2-115 and Sh2-116

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Description

With a lot of effort, I managed to finish another photo of a little-known area in the constellation Cygnus, namely the pair of emission nebulae Sh2-115 and Sh2-116.

Sh2-115 is an emission nebula 7500 light years away from us in the Orion Arm region located just beyond the large nebulous system of the Cygnus X black hole, from which it is about 1600 light years away. It is a HII region of considerable extension with an oval shape and crossed in a northwest-southeast direction by a dark band that apparently divides it into two equal parts: the eastern part is dominated by the presence of a small open cluster, known as Berkeley 90, with which it is physically associated, while the western part lies in the direction of the variable star α2 CVn HD 196178 (V2015 Cyg), with an average apparent magnitude of 5.63. 

Sh2-116 is a small emission nebula (top right of the photo) located on the northern edge of the much larger Sh2-115. This nebula has a circular shape, to the point that in the Sharpless catalog it is indicated as a possible planetary nebula. In fact, it was also believed to be so subsequently, to the point that it reports various catalog designations of planetary nebulae. A 1991 study, however, clarified that it is actually an HII region but, despite this study, its distance still remains unknown.

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