The Sharpless Catalog

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Sh 2-51

Coordinates: (16.97°, -5.18°)
Distance: Unknown

[ See details ] 		Sh 2-51

There is an extremely faint diagonal band of nebulosity visible at this location.

Sh 2-52

Coordinates: (17.50°, -22.20°)
Distance: 1500 pc, Size: 0.9 pc
Source: 1996A&A...315..253W

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-52

The faint blue glow comes from the planetary nebula also known as Abell 65. It is highly unusual for a planetary nebula because it contains an eclipsing binary central star. See Sh 2-313 for another example of such a blue planetary nebula with a binary central star.

Sh 2-53

Also: RCW 166
Coordinates: (18.20°, -0.30°)
Distance: 3798 pc, Size: 9.4 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-53

This is in the same area of sky as the Scutum supershell.

Sh 2-54

Also: Gum 85
Coordinates: (18.70°, 2.00°)
Distance: 1900 pc, Size: 10.8 pc
Source: 2000AJ....120.2594F

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-54

This HII region is associated with the Ser OB2 association and the NGC 6604 star cluster and is the core of the W35 star formation region. Sharpless describes a large region, so this nebula would be the large nebula, not the small one above.

Sh 2-55

Coordinates: (20.29°, -1.14°)
Distance: 3300 pc, Size: 4.8 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-55

This HII region may be part of the Scutum supershell.

Sh 2-56

Also: RCW 169
Coordinates: (21.97°, 0.06°)
Distance: 4800 pc, Size: 9.8 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-56

This HII region is the luminous water maser GAL 021.88+00.02

Sh 2-57

Coordinates: (22.89°, 0.68°)
Distance: 1500 pc, Size: 0.9 pc
Source: 1982ApJS...49..183B

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-57

Both Sharpless and Avedisova conclude that Sh 2-57 is ionised by the B0.5 III giant star BD -8 4623.

Sh 2-57 and Sh 2-58 are visible together in the sky (as shown by this hydrogen-alpha image), divided by the dark nebula LDN 446 and just east of the Scutum Supershell. However, they seem to be located at quite different distances, with Sh 2-58 at about the same distance as the Supershell and Sh 2-57 in front of this region.

Sh 2-58

Also: RCW 171
Coordinates: (23.10°, 0.60°)
Distance: 2472 pc, Size: 2.7 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-58

Avedisova includes Sh 2-58 in the star formation region SFR 23.13+0.55, along with the molecular cloud SYCSW 317 and the compact radio HII region [L89b] 23.115+0.556.

Sh 2-57 and Sh 2-58 are visible together in the sky (as shown by this hydrogen-alpha image), divided by the dark nebula LDN 446 and just east of the Scutum Supershell. However, they seem to be located at quite different distances, with Sh 2-58 at about the same distance as the Supershell and Sh 2-57 in front of this region.

Sh 2-58 is close in the sky to the supernova remnant W41, which is estimated to have a distance of about 4000 pc.

Sh 2-59

Also: RCW 172
Coordinates: (24.50°, -0.20°)
Distance: 5468 pc, Size: 18.0 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..213P

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-59

This is actually at 3100 pc.

Sh 2-60

Also: RCW 173
Coordinates: (25.30°, 0.21°)
Distance: 2200 pc, Size: 12.8 pc
Source: 2003A&A...397..133R

[ Find on map | See details ] 		Sh 2-60

No information available on this HII region.


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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.