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Cepheus and Cassiopeia overview

Submitted by Kevin Jardine on 24 June, 2007 - 17:03

Hover your mouse over each blue dot for the name of the object, or click on the dot for a detail page. This map was created using the all-sky hydrogen-alpha map produced by Douglas Finkbeiner from data collected by the WHAM, VTSS and SHASSA hydrogen-alpha surveys.

If the Gould Belt is the local town and Cygnus is the big city, then Cepheus is somewhere in between. It contains 4 OB associations and numerous molecular clouds and nebula. This overview image includes links to only a couple of outlying nebula: Sh 2-174 and Sh 2-178. Both objects are too close to us to be associated with either the Cepheus or Cassiopeia regions. There are also many fairly bright nebula on this image that have no counterparts in the Sharpless catalog - including the huge nebula at (119°, -12°), Siv 2, which SIMBAD oddly lists without the coordinates given in the original discovery article and a horseshoe shaped one at about (130°, -10°). The horseshoe-shaped nebula has a bright spot catalogued as LBN 640 but the hydrogen-alpha image reveals that this nebula is much larger than previously detected.

Like the Cygnus region, the images on this page are based on data from the relatively low resolution WHAM (Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper) survey, which explains the lack of detail in the brighter nebula. Douglas Finkbeiner patched some of these areas with more detailed data from the VTSS survey, which helps a bit, but astronomers interested in the detailed structure of this region will have to wait for a higher resolution image.

Note: the nebulae on the left side of the image below to the Heart and Soul region.


Sh 2-199
Sh 2-198
Sh 2-195
Sh 2-194
Sh 2-197
Sh 2-196
Sh 2-191
Sh 2-190
Sh 2-193
Sh 2-192
BFS24
Sh 2-178
Sh 2-174
Sh 2-201
W3
Sh 2-200
Sh 2-202
Sh 2-189
BFS26