I began imaging this area during the full moon cycle toward the end of October 2024, knowing that this part of Cassiopeia is rich in Ha emission I figured I would create a simple HaRGB image while I waited for darker skies to return. To my surprise, after my first night of shooting and integrating RGB data I noticed an odd artifact which at first I thought was a comet that I was unaware of being in the framing.

When I spent time properly looking at the data it was obvious that this object was not a comet. It also did not show up on any plate solves and I couldn't see it mentioned anywhere else on any other images on Astrobin. Knowing that there is not any formal process for cataloging or listing new reflection nebulae I have been reluctant to describe this as a "new" discovery but through my time spent reviewing online resources and various sky surveys I believe this is a newly discovered reflection nebula. I followed a similar process outlined by @Nico Carver in the YouTube video he made about his reflection nebula discovery https://youtu.be/qaKXTnounrU?si=9TCK3ew2rV5JCpnf

When I reviewed the Aladin Sky Survey it was clearly visible albeit extremely faint: 



The object appears much more prominently in the starless image to the right of SH2-173:



A closer look:



The star I believe causing the illumination of this nebula is UCAC3 303-8719, per the CDS portal this is a OB- star type and I have attached the link to Simbad for further information https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=UCAC3%20303-8719

From what I have researched this object does not appear to have been previously catalogued or “discovered” so I am naming it Groves 1. This image and potential discovery would not have been possible had my telescope not been under the incredible dark skies at Starfront Remote Observatories.  

The J2000 coordinates are: 00 22 55.109 +61 12 3.82 should you wish to image this area.

I’m including the other identifying names for UCAC3 303-8719 below in the hope that should this star be searched for online it will more readily be found :

• 2MASS J00225510+6112039
• ALS 6161
• CSI+60-00202
• Gaia DR2 428909285459943168
• Gaia DR3 428909285459943168
• NAME LS I +60 100A
• TIC 406963261
• UCAC3 303-8719
• UCAC4 757-003849

Processing:

I don’t claim to have any special talent with processing. For this image I did all pre-processing with WBPP and the following steps with Pixinsight:

1) BlurX on all masters, slightly reduced the default settings
2) Channel Combination of RGB data
3) SPCC
4) NoiseX with NR set to 0.5 and detail set to 0.15
5) Stretched the RGB data with GHS to try to retain relatively tight star cores
6) Removed stars from the Ha master with StarX, stretched with GHS
7) Used the PhotometricContinuumSubtraction script by @Charles Hagen to isolate the Ha signal and applied the Ha data to a starless RGB image
8) Screened RGB stars back in using PixelMath
9) CurvesTransformation with some adjustment to saturation