vdB 141 The Ghost Nebula

2014/08/23 - Fifth light of our remote setup. We spent almost 34 hours on this object. Conditions weren't good; bad weather, moon and seeing interfered. So it took us more than a month, 12 sessions, to gather some decent data.

vdB 141 (also known as Sh2-136) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. It's located in the western part of the constellation, about one degree to the east of the famous Iris nebula (NGC 7023); the best time for your observation in the evening sky is between the months of July and December.

It's an isolated Bok globule located in the great dark nebulous system that masks the light of the Milky Way in the constellation of Cepheus; its distance is equal to about 450 parsecs (about 1470 light years). The central globule is known by the abbreviation CB 230; it is home to the source of infrared radiation IRAS 21169 + 6804, associated with a young stellar object at the center of a bipolar jet. Together with a nearby source in the visible near-infrared form a pair of protostars that could constitute a binary system. The jet is oriented in a north-south and has a total length of about 0.06 light years.