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Colorful Cave

Red hydrogen emission and blue reflection nebulae, dark molecular clouds and a bright star sitting in the middle, flooding the scene its yellow light... Sounds like the Rho Ophichui region?

 

Sure. There is, however, another smaller, but similarly colorful area in the sky:

Meet the Cave Nebula!

 

Officially designated Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula in the constellation Cepheus, is a diffuse nebula of ionized hydrogen with ongoing star formation activity, at an estimated distance of 2400 light-years from Earth. It lies within a larger complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity.

 

The name "Cave Nebula" for Sh2-155 was coined by Patrick Moore, presumably derived from photographic images showing a curved arc of emission nebulosity corresponding to a cave mouth. Earlier, the name was already used to refer to another brighter but unrelated reflection nebula in Cepheus, known as Ced 201. The name's application to Sh2-155 has come into vogue through the nebula's inclusion in Moore's Caldwell catalogue as object Caldwell 9.

 

EXIF

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

Baader Ha, Oiii, RGB filters

William Optics Megrez 88, f/5.6

Skywatcher AZ-GTI controlled with ASIAir

ZWO ASI 385MC for autoguiding

PixInsight processing

Total integration time: 5h10min

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Uploaded on September 8, 2022