The Sharpless Catalog

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Sh 2-1

Coordinates: (347.22°, 20.24°)
Distance: 200 pc, Size: 8.7 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-1

Associated with the star pi Sco in the nearby Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Sco OB2 association.

Sh 2-2

Also: RCW 119, Gum 57
Coordinates: (347.70°, 1.90°)
Distance: 1700 pc, Size: 89.0 pc
Source: 1999A&A...346..979B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-2

This HII region is a wind blown bubble surrounding the O6.5 Ia star and prominent X-ray eclipsing binary HD 153919 and is in the same direction (but much further) as the star cluster NGC 6281.

Sh 2-3

Also: RCW 120, Gum 58
Coordinates: (348.25°, 0.49°)
Distance: 1300 pc, Size: 4.5 pc
Source: 2005A&A...433..565D

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-3

Gum 58 is ionised by an O6 V star, most likely CGO 439.

Sh 2-4

Also: RCW 121
Coordinates: (348.20°, -1.00°)
Distance: 2510 pc, Size: 0.9 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-4

This HII region may be associated with the star cluster Havlen-Moffat 1.

Sh 2-5

Coordinates: (348.97°, -0.54°)
Distance: 2900 pc, Size: 84.4 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-5

This large diffuse nebula is in the same direction and distance as WR 89 in the cluster Havlen-Moffat 1 and may be the same object as Gum 59b and RCW 123.

Sh 2-6

Also: RCW 124, Gum 60
Coordinates: (349.70°, 0.80°)
Distance: 910 pc, Size: 1.1 pc
Source: 2002A&A...394..679K

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-6

This is the Bug nebula, a planetary nebula.

Sh 2-7

Coordinates: (349.86°, 22.26°)
Distance: 200 pc, Size: 14.0 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-7

This is excited by the nearby star delta Sco.

Sh 2-8

Also: RCW 127, Gum 61
Coordinates: (351.23°, 0.77°)
Distance: 1700 pc, Size: 59.3 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-8

This is NGC 6334, the Cat's Paw nebula. This nebula contains five cloud fragments and at least eleven major infrared sources that are probably mostly cooler B stars. It lies at the same distance as NGC 6357, the War and Peace nebula, and is separated from it by a dark cloud.

You can see both nebula together in this image.

The Gum catalog divides this nebula into six pieces (Gum 61, 62, 63, 64a, 64b and 64c).

Sh 2-9

Also: Gum 65
Coordinates: (351.31°, 17.01°)
Distance: 200 pc, Size: 4.7 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-9

Associated with the star sigma Sco in the nearby Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Sco OB2 association.

Sh 2-10

Also: RCW 130
Coordinates: (352.44°, 2.26°)
Distance: 1000 pc, Size: 17.5 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-10

This is in the same direction as the Wolf-Rayet star WR 88.


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Stewart Sharpless published the second and final version of his famous nebula catalog in 1959. Although astronomers publish articles referring to the Sharpless nebulae almost every month, there seems to be few places on the Internet that bring together information on these nebulae as a whole - unlike, for example, the Messier catalog. This is most likely because the Messier objects are visible to anyone with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. Most of the Sharpless objects are clearly visible only in photographic plates taken by large telescopes. Fortunately some of these plates have now been digitally scanned and made publicly available.

Many of the brightest and most beautiful Milky Way star formation regions visible from the northern hemisphere are in the Sharpless catalog so the 313 objects it contains are well worth examining carefully. (In fact there are more than 313 objects as subsequent research has shown that some of the Sharpless nebulae consist of more than one object.) Although the Sharpless catalog is only intended to be complete for objects visible north of declination -27 degrees, a similar catalog covering the southern hemisphere was published by Alex Rodgers, Colin Campbell, and John Whiteoak in 1960, which is largely an expansion of Colin Gum's earlier catalog. You can visit a gallery of these RCW nebulae here. At least 50 objects in the Sharpless catalog are also in the RCW catalog and I have noted this in the descriptions of these objects.

These images were created using the POSS-II/UKSTU data of the Digitized Sky Survey and SuperCOSMOS using the process described here.

According to my correspondence with the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and the Space Telescope Science Institute, I am allowed to use the POSS-II/UKSTU data to create and display images for non-commercial purposes so long as I include this fine print for the SuperCOSMOS data:

Use of these images is courtesy of the UK Schmidt Telescope (copyright in which is owned by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UK and the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board) and the Southern Sky Survey as created by the SuperCOSMOS measuring machine and are reproduced here with permission from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.

and this acknowledgement taken from the DSS site:

The Digitized Sky Surveys were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions.

The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-II) was made by the California Institute of Technology with funds from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Sloan Foundation, the Samuel Oschin Foundation, and the Eastman Kodak Corporation.

The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council (later the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council), until 1988 June, and thereafter by the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The blue plates of the southern Sky Atlas and its Equatorial Extension (together known as the SERC-J), as well as the Equatorial Red (ER), and the Second Epoch [red] Survey (SES) were all taken with the UK Schmidt.

The "Second Epoch Survey" of the southern sky was made by the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) with the UK Schmidt Telescope. Plates from this survey have been digitized and compressed by the ST ScI. The digitized images are copyright © 1993-5 by the Anglo-Australian Observatory Board, and are distributed herein by agreement.

The "Equatorial Red Atlas" of the southern sky was made with the UK Schmidt Telescope. Plates from this survey have been digitized and compressed by the ST ScI. The digitized images are copyright © 1992-5, jointly by the UK SERC/PPARC (Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, formerly Science and Engineering Research Council) and the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board, and are distributed herein by agreement.

The compressed files of the "Palomar Observatory - Space Telescope Science Institute Digital Sky Survey" of the northern sky, based on scans of the Second Palomar Sky Survey are copyright © 1993-1995 by the California Institute of Technology and are distributed herein by agreement. The compressed files of the "Palomar Observatory - Space Telescope Science Institute Digital Sky Survey" of the northern sky, based on scans of the Second Palomar Sky Survey are copyright © 1993-1995 by the California Institute of Technology and are distributed herein by agreement.