vdB 102

Image Description and Details : This is an image of vdB102, a reflection nebula, located in the northern part of the constellation of Scorpius, north of Antares. What is a reflection nebula one may ask?
Reflection nebulae are clouds of interstellar dust which might reflect the light of a nearby star or stars. The energy from the nearby stars is insufficient to ionize the gas of the nebula to create an emission nebula, but is enough to give sufficient scattering to make the dust visible. The frequency spectrum shown by reflection nebulae is thus similar to that of the illuminating stars. The stars responsible for the lighting of vdB 102 are known by the initials HD 147009 and HD 147010. The first is at a lower brightness at mag 8.06 and is a white main sequence star, while the second is a blue giant of spectral class B9III with magnitude of 7.40.

Telescope: Astro-Physics Starfire 175
Camera: FLI 16070
Mount: AstroPhysics 1600GTO-AE
Observatory : Deep Sky West, NM, USA.

L = 27x15m
R= 24x15m
G= 28x15m
B= 22x15m
Total integration = 25h15m

Copyright: vikas chander