Sh 2-230 is a very faint and extended emission nebula that encompasses a number of other
a number of other Sharpless objects in the heart of Auriga.
The Sharpless 2 catalogue (Sh 2) is a list of 312 HII (Hydrogen Emission Nebula) regions with the intention,
to form a complete list of these objects north of declination δ = -27°. The first edition of the catalogue from 1953
was labelled Sharpless 1 (Sh 1).
The celestial region shown in the image comprises the surroundings of the Large Orion Nebula.
Most of the objects visible in the photographs are located in the Orion arm of the Milky Way, as is our
home solar system.
The Soul Nebula (IC 1848, Sharpless 2-199, LBN 667) is an emission nebula located in constellation Cassiopeia.
Several small open clusters are embedded in the nebula. This complex is the eastern neighbor
of IC1805 (Heart Nebula) and the two are often mentioned together as the "Heart and Soul".
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190) is an emission nebula, 7500 light years away from Earth and located in the Perseus Arm
of the milky way (as the Soul Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia).
The Iris nebula is a bright reflecion nebula in the constellation Cepheus.
It's appearance is caused by the very hot star HD 200775 in it's centre
whose light is partly reflected and partly absorbed by surrounding dust clouds.
As can be seen from the labeled image, the dust cloud itself can be found in
Lynd's cataologue of dark nebulae as entry LDN 1174.
The reflection nebula shines at magnitude +6.8.
It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across
In the constellation Auriga on clear winter nights one can find the open cluster NGC 1893 embedded in the emission nebula IC 410.
While NGC 1893 can be observed visually using a telescope with proper aperture the faint nebula IC 410 is a real hard case for the visual
observer and much easier to catch by photography.
Due to some smaller but prominent star formation regions the nebula IC 410 is nicknamed as the "tadpole nebula".
IC 410 was discovered on September 25, 1892 by the (german) astronomer Max Wolf (June 21, 1863 - October 3, 1932) while the
open cluster NGC 1893 was discovered already earlier on January 22, 1827 by the (british) astronomer
John Herschel (Mar 7, 1792 - May 11, 1871).
What can be seen in the image is what cannot be seen visually through a telescope. The image
is presented in false colors resulting from an (amongst astro-photographers
widely known) image acquisition technique using narrow band filters.
The rosette nebula NGC 2237 is a H-II emission region in the constellation monoceros (unicorn).
Its distance to our solar system was measured to be roughly 5.200 light years and its diameter to about 130 light years.
A mass estimate yields approximately 10.000 solar masses.
The Tarantula Nebula NGC 2070 (Object No. 2070 in the New General Catalogue) can be found within the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the constellation
Dorado.