VDB 4 & NGC 225 (SAILBOAT CLUSTER)

Although there are several objects in this dust rich image, I decided to name it most prominent object first and that is the reflection nebula vdB 4 named after Dutch astronomer Sidney van den Bergh. It has a blue-white tint and is located 2,000 light-years away in Cassiopeia. In addition to being relatively bright, it shows a lot of sharp detail.

NGC 225, also known as the Sailboat Cluster, is an open cluster approximately 2,200 LY away and is approximately 100 to 150 million years old. The cluster is in the center of the image just below vdB 4 and made up of mostly blue stars although there is a fair number of yellow stars. The outline of the Sailboat is hard to see in my image as it is obscured a bit by the dust, however, the 'hull' is oriented about 30 degrees from horizontal and part of vdB 4 making the 'sail'.

Other goodies in this image are the dark nebula LDN 1291 to the left of vdB 4, LBN 1302 just below vdB 4, and the dusty stringers that appear to be raining down from the cluster. I did not crop this image as I also liked the colorful star field. I struggled with how much to enhance the stars vs. star reduction but in this version after doing initial reduction with BXT for both the RGB and Luminosity images, I did a 35% Luminosity blend with the RGB stars.

Copyright: Kurt Zeppetello