APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5344
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:05 am

Image Lynds Dark Nebula 1251

Explanation: Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum, astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects seen in this sharp image. Distant background galaxies also lurk on the scene, buried behind the dusty expanse. This alluring view imaged with a backyard telescope and broadband filters spans about two full moons on the sky, or 17 light-years at the estimated distance of LDN 1251.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:31 am

First of all, well done, Ara Jerahian, taking this broadband image with a backyard telescope! :D

And second...

Blue star in LDN 1251.png
As a Color Commentator and lover of all blue things, I obviously had to identify the bluest object in the field, which is this blue star, HD 215038. It really is a blue star, with a slightly negative B-V index, and it is the only star with a negative B-V index that I managed to find when I scoured the area with my software. So your image, Ara Jerahian, is so well color-balanced that it really does bring out the single bluest object in this field! Well done indeed! :D

As for the blue star, HD 215038, if we are to believe its uncertain Hipparcos parallax, the distance to it is about 1,000 light-years, which is the same as the distance to the dark cloud LDN 1251 itself. Fascinating.
And I don't know about the "adult" thing here - hope he's wearing clothes...
APOD Robot wrote:

Distant background galaxies also lurk on the scene, buried behind the dusty expanse.
Possible background galaxy in LDN 1251.png

Well, I found a possible background galaxy, which looks pretty much like a fine face-on spiral galaxy to me. (Or else it's just another patch of illuminated nebulosity.)

Have you found any others?




























APOD Robot wrote:

Across the spectrum, astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects seen in this sharp image.
+Herbig haro objects in LDN 1251.png
Well, the only reddish object that I found in the image is the object that I marked with a number 3. It looks like a faint emission nebula (with a yellow star inside it) to me. Number 1 looks definitely like a young star with jets (and, I guess, Herbig Haro objects, which are illuminated patches of nebulosity caused by jets from the young star hitting the dusty environment.) As what number 2 is, I don't know!
Color Commentator

BDanielMayfield
Don't bring me down
Posts: 2524
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:24 am
AKA: Bruce
Location: East Idaho

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:17 pm

Ann wrote:As for the blue star, HD 215038, if we are to believe its uncertain Hipparcos parallax, the distance to it is about 1,000 light-years, which is the same as the distance to the dark cloud LDN 1251 itself.
As deep as we are into the GAIA mission surely there is a much improved parallax measurement for HD 215038 (as well as about a billion others), but all this new stellar info has been slow to enter easily assessable sources like wikipedia. Is there a way for non-professional astronomers to look up GAIA data on any particular star?
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by neufer » Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:23 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzo_(Muppet) wrote:

Gonzo, also known as The Great Gonzo and Gonzo the Great, is a Muppet character known for his eccentric passion for stunt performance. Aside from his trademark enthusiasm for performance art, another defining trait of Gonzo is the ambiguity of his species, which has become a running gag in the franchise. Gonzo has been considered to be of various origins, including a Frackle, in his debut appearance on The Great Santa Claus Switch; extraterrestrial in Muppets from Space; or avian creature. Gonzo has appeared in every Muppet film, including The Muppet Christmas Carol, where he portrayed author Charles Dickens and developed a double act with Rizzo the Rat.
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:26 pm

ldn1251_jerahian1024.jpg


What's a little darkness between stars? :wink:
Darkness hides a lot of things! Newborn stars included :mrgreen: !
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by neufer » Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:44 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:26 pm
What's a little darkness between stars? :wink:
Darkness hides a lot of things! Newborn stars included :mrgreen: !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Dies_in_Darkness wrote:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
<<"Democracy Dies in Darkness" was the first slogan to be officially adopted by The Washington Post in its 140-year history. According to the newspaper, the phrase was popularized by investigative journalist Bob Woodward. Woodward used the phrase in a 2007 piece criticizing government secrecy. Woodward said he did not coin the phrase himself, instead attributing the phrase to a judge ruling on a First Amendment case, believed to be from Circuit Judge Damon Keith. The newspaper said it decided to adopt an official slogan in 2016, before Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president of the United States. This started a process which involved a small group of newspaper employees meeting to develop ideas for slogans. The group eventually settled on "Democracy Dies in Darkness" after brainstorming over 500 options. On Twitter, writers at other media organizations mocked the slogan, while news organization ProPublica described the slogan as "awesome". Online magazine Slate said the slogan sounded "like a catchphrase more befitting a doomsday prophet than a daily newspaper", and compared the slogan to the titles of fifteen heavy metal albums, saying that they were "less dark" than the Washington Post slogan. Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, said the slogan "sounds like the next Batman movie".>>
Art Neuendorffer

Guest

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Guest » Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:48 pm

I’m just wondering, as the non-astronomer I am..., are dark nebulas generally closer to us than the brightly illuminated colored ones? Being that fewer stars lie between us and the nearer clouds than ones further away from us to illuminate the clouds?

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18102
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:05 pm

Guest wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 2:48 pm I’m just wondering, as the non-astronomer I am..., are dark nebulas generally closer to us than the brightly illuminated colored ones? Being that fewer stars lie between us and the nearer clouds than ones further away from us to illuminate the clouds?
Illuminated nebulas are not illuminated by stars between us and them, but by stars that are inside them. In almost every case, illuminated nebulas are physically associated with the stars that light them up, either by reflection of emission (there are a handful of exceptions, like the Pleiades, but even there the dust, gas, and stars are all together in location).

So there's no relationship between the type of nebula and the distance from us.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

NGC3314
Telescope Nerd
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:15 pm

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by NGC3314 » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:09 pm

Ann wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:31 am
Well, I found a possible background galaxy, which looks pretty much like a fine face-on spiral galaxy to me. (Or else it's just another patch of illuminated nebulosity.)

Have you found any others?
As an aficionado of seeing galaxies though other galaxies' dust, I know that one! It's UGC 12160, which I first learned about from the caption on one of the pictures in the gallery in the back of a Sky and Telescope issue. Here's a shallower image which shows its spiral structure more clearly.

Bill Keel
UGC12160BRlogsm.png

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:37 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:17 pm
Ann wrote:As for the blue star, HD 215038, if we are to believe its uncertain Hipparcos parallax, the distance to it is about 1,000 light-years, which is the same as the distance to the dark cloud LDN 1251 itself.
As deep as we are into the GAIA mission surely there is a much improved parallax measurement for HD 215038 (as well as about a billion others), but all this new stellar info has been slow to enter easily assessable sources like wikipedia. Is there a way for non-professional astronomers to look up GAIA data on any particular star?
I wish I knew! :(

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
johnnydeep
Commodore
Posts: 2777
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:57 pm

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by johnnydeep » Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:20 pm

Ann wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:31 am
APOD Robot wrote:

Distant background galaxies also lurk on the scene, buried behind the dusty expanse.
Well, I found a possible background galaxy, which looks pretty much like a fine face-on spiral galaxy to me. (Or else it's just another patch of illuminated nebulosity.)

Have you found any others?
Yeah, I found the same one you pointed out, and maybe one other that "lurks" under the tail of what looks like the fossil of a fish to me:
background galaxy in ldn1251.JPG
--
"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:34 pm

NGC3314 wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:09 pm
Ann wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:31 am
Well, I found a possible background galaxy, which looks pretty much like a fine face-on spiral galaxy to me. (Or else it's just another patch of illuminated nebulosity.)

Have you found any others?
As an aficionado of seeing galaxies though other galaxies' dust, I know that one! It's UGC 12160, which I first learned about from the caption on one of the pictures in the gallery in the back of a Sky and Telescope issue. Here's a shallower image which shows its spiral structure more clearly.

Bill Keel

UGC12160BRlogsm.png
Thanks! :D

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:34 pm

johnnydeep wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 4:20 pm
Ann wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:31 am
APOD Robot wrote:

Distant background galaxies also lurk on the scene, buried behind the dusty expanse.
Well, I found a possible background galaxy, which looks pretty much like a fine face-on spiral galaxy to me. (Or else it's just another patch of illuminated nebulosity.)

Have you found any others?
Yeah, I found the same one you pointed out, and maybe one other that "lurks" under the tail of what looks like the fossil of a fish to me:

background galaxy in ldn1251.JPG
Yes, I wondered about that one too. In your nice large closeup, it sure looks like a galaxy.

Ann
Color Commentator

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:53 pm

LDN1251_FSQ_PS4_Crp-IP_annotated[1].jpg
LDN 1251 and friends, annotated. Note the PGC and LEDA galaxies.
Photo: Jim Thommes Astrophotography.


I found the nice picture at left of LDN 1251 and friends! :D Note the PGC and LEDA galaxies. The picture is not as deep as the APOD, so we don't see any Herbig-Haro objects or small stars with jets. Note the HD numbers of some of the stars, and the Dobashi designations of some of the extra-dark clouds! :)

And in the picture at right, you can see two of the galaxies (far left and far right) rather well. You can also see some of the young stars in the dark cloud having tantrums.

Ann

P.S. Who's Dobashi? Sounds like the title of a film.
Color Commentator

User avatar
johnnydeep
Commodore
Posts: 2777
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:57 pm

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by johnnydeep » Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:55 pm

Ann wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 5:53 pm I found the nice picture at left of LDN 1251 and friends! :D Note the PGC and LEDA galaxies. The picture is not as deep as the APOD, so we don't see any Herbig-Haro objects or small stars with jets. Note the HD numbers of some of the stars, and the Dobashi designations of some of the extra-dark clouds! :)

And in the picture at right, you can see two of the galaxies (far left and far right) rather well. You can also see some of the young stars in the dark cloud having tantrums.

Ann
Nice! But sadly, that other galaxy below the fish tail seems to have evaporated. Wish I could aim Hubble there to be sure though! :ssmile:
--
"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13369
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 (2020 Jul 03)

Post by Ann » Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:16 pm

Steve Gottlieb wrote:

In 1995 UGC 12160 was the host of the core-collapse supernova 1995X. 💥
:shock:

Ann
Color Commentator

Post Reply