The Sharpless Catalog

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Sh 2-221

Coordinates: (160.80°, 2.70°)
Distance: Unknown

[ See details ] 		Sh 2-221

This is a supernova remnant, most likely SNR 160.4+02.8.

Sh 2-222

Coordinates: (165.36°, -9.02°)
Distance: 800 pc, Size: 1.4 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-222

Also called NGC 1579, this dusty reflection nebula contains a cluster of about 5 bright B class stars and 35 other stars. The cluster is dominated by the massive young star LkHα 101.

Sh 2-223

Coordinates: (165.80°, 2.50°)
Distance: 8000 pc, Size: 162.9 pc
Source: 1986MNRAS.221..809R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-223

This is the supernova remnant SNR 166.2+02.5

Sh 2-224

Coordinates: (166.12°, 4.19°)
Distance: 4500 pc, Size: 72.0 pc
Source: 2004BASI...32..335G

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-224

This is the supernova remnant SNR G166.1 +4.4

Sh 2-225

Coordinates: (168.11°, 3.07°)
Distance: 3700 pc, Size: 10.8 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-225

The HII region Sh 2-225 contains the young stellar object candidate IRAS 05235+4033 and is ionised by the O9 V star LS V +40 46.

Sh 2-226

Coordinates: (168.48°, -0.97°)
Distance: 4200 pc, Size: 3.7 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-226

Little appears in the scientific literature about this nebula. It is more prominent at radio and infrared frequencies than hydrogen-alpha, suggesting that it is visually obscured. Avedisova places it in star formation region SFR 168.48-0.97 with two masers. It is near in the sky to the better studied Sh 2-228 and has a roughly similar distance estimate. Both nebulae appear to lie behind the Aur OB1 association in the outer galaxy.

Sh 2-227

Coordinates: (168.70°, 0.99°)
Distance: 4300 pc, Size: 25.0 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-227

Avedisova concludes that this little-studied nebula is ionised by the O9 V star LS V +38 12 at a distance of 3810 +/- 1000 parsecs. It appears behind the western edge of the Aur OB1 association in the outer galaxy.

A much better image appears here.

Sh 2-228

Coordinates: (169.20°, -0.90°)
Distance: 7926 pc, Size: 9.2 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-228

Sh 2-228 contains the massive infrared star cluster [IBP2002] CC01. (This is misidentified in SIMBAD as a possible globular cluster.) The 1800 solar mass cluster is 1 to 2 million years old, and the surrounding field stars about 5-6 million years old.

Distance should be changed to 3500 pc.

Sh 2-229

Coordinates: (171.97°, -2.18°)
Distance: 510 pc, Size: 9.6 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-229

The Flaming Star nebula is excited by the runaway O9.5Ve star AE Aurigae.

Sh 2-230

Coordinates: (172.97°, -1.31°)
Distance: 3200 pc, Size: 279.4 pc
Source: 1999A&A...348..600P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-230

This enormous nebula appears to surround the Auriga OB2 association in the outer galaxy. Only a small detail of this nebula is shown in the accompanying image.


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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.