The Sharpless Catalog

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Sh 2-161A

Coordinates: (111.87°, 1.06°)
Distance: Unknown

[ See details ] 		Sh 2-161A

There are two HII regions at this location - Sh 2-161A lies at an unknown distance.

Sh 2-161B

Coordinates: (111.87°, 1.06°)
Distance: 2800 pc, Size: 44.8 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-161B

Sh 2-161B is a large diffuse nebula surrounding the much smaller (and better studied) Sh 2-158, which is visible in the bottom right of this image.

Sh 2-162

Coordinates: (112.20°, 0.20°)
Distance: 3813 pc, Size: 5.8 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-162

This is the Bubble nebula, NGC 7635, a circular shell around the O6.5 IIIf star BD +60°2522.

You can see the faint nebulosity around the Bubble in this Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Sh 2-163

Coordinates: (113.60°, -0.70°)
Distance: 3839 pc, Size: 12.4 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-163

Ionised by the O 9.5 V class star LSI +60 8 at 2800 parsecs and contains the infrared cluster [BDS2003] 45. A second distance estimate of 2500 parsecs.

Distance on the map should be changed.

Sh 2-164

Coordinates: (113.90°, -1.62°)
Distance: 5000 pc, Size: 4.4 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-164

Ionised by the B1 Ib supergiant LS I +59 10 with two distance estimates of 3500 +/- 1500 parsecs and 2820 parsecs.

Sh 2-165

Coordinates: (114.61°, 0.22°)
Distance: 1600 pc, Size: 4.7 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-165

Excited by B0V star BD 61 +2494

Sh 2-166

Coordinates: (114.63°, -0.79°)
Distance: 2400 pc, Size: 7.0 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-166

This faint nebula forms part of the Cas Ob5 supershell.

Sh 2-167

Coordinates: (114.98°, 3.18°)
Distance: 6400 pc, Size: 3.7 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-167

This may be part of a large expanding shell around Cas OB5.

Sh 2-168

Coordinates: (115.80°, -1.60°)
Distance: 3575 pc, Size: 2.9 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-168

This is in the direction of Cas OB5.

Sh 2-169

Coordinates: (115.88°, -1.72°)
Distance: 1500 pc, Size: 2.2 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-169

A faint nebulosity near the direction of the much brighter Sh 2-168.

Sh 2-170

Coordinates: (117.63°, 2.25°)
Distance: 2300 pc, Size: 13.4 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-170

Sh 2-170 is in the vicinity of the Cas OB5 supershell. The sole exciting star of Sh 2-170 is DM+63 2093, an O8 V star of 31 solar masses.


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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.