Shark Nebula (LDN 1235)

LDN 1235
LDN 1235: Shark Nebula in Cepheus; Technosky 60mm f/6, 0.8 Reducer (f=288mm), ASI 294 MC Pro, Skywatcher EQ6R pro; 280 x 60s, G120, -10°C; © 28. 8. 2022 Jörg Studer
LDN 1235
LDN 1235: Shark Nebula in Cepheus; Celestron RASA 11" f/2.22; ZWO ASI6200 Pro; Tentlingen; © 2022 Peter Kocher [33]

History

In 1962 the American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds published a compilation of dark nebula in her «Catalogue of Dark Nebulae» that she found on the blue and red photo plates of the «National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas» (POSS), taken with the 48 inch Oschin Schmidt telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory. The dark part of this nebula (the «eye of the shark») is listed there with the designation LDN 1235. [473]

In 1965 Lynds published her catalog of bright nebulae (H-II regions and reflection nebulae). The whole nebula is listed there as LBN 111.07+14.08 or also referred to LBN 535 and was barely detectable on the red photo plates. She also added two reflection nebulae (LBN 541 = DG 177, LBN 546 = DG 178) discovered on the POSS photo plates in 1963 by the German astronomers J. Dorschner and J. Gürtler from Jena. [270, 594]

Sidney van den Bergh identified in 1966 in his «Study of Reflection Nebulae» the reflection nebulae vdB 149 = LBN 541 to be illuminated by the star BD +72 1018 and the reflection nebula vdB 150 = LBN 546 to be illuminated by the star BD +72 1020 (HD 210806). [255]

Physical Properties

LDN 1235 is the densest and darkest part of the molecular cloud and very faint H-II region LBN 535. It hosts a star forming region. The age is estimated to 1-5 million years and the distance to earth between 330 and 370 pc. [593] Within the nebula are two blue reflection nebulae (vdB 149 and vdB 150), which are illuminated by nearby spectral type B8 stars. The distance to earth of these two stars is about 340 pc. [145]

Objektdaten [145, 270]
Designation Object Type RA Dec Size [']
LBN 535 HII region 22 01 00 +72 54 00 155 x 30
LBN 541, vdb 149 Reflection nebula 22 09 00 +72 48 00 5 x 3
LBN 546, vdb 150 Reflection nebula 22 09 00 +73 18 00 10 x 5
LDN 1235 Dark nebula 22 14 55 +73 25 00 10.2 x 4.2

Finder Chart

The nebula LDN 1235 is located in constellation Cepheus. The constellation Cepheus is circumpolar, but it is highest in the sky in the months of May to December and the nebula can therefore be observed best then.

Finder Chart Shark Nebula (LDN 1235)
Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) in constellation Cepheus. Charts created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. Limiting magnitudes: Constellation chart ~6.5 mag, DSS2 close-ups ~20 mag. [149, 160]

More Objects Nearby (±15°)

References