| Star cluster and associated nebulosity NGC 7380 in Cepheus, located
about 2.5° east of Delta Cep was inadvertently
imaged during an unsuccessful attempt to recover NEO 2006 TB on 22 July
2008. The NEO was predicted to be as faint
as magnitude +20.5 and with an uncertainty area (or Line of Variation)
on the sky of about 11° and moving through rich star fields of the Milky
Way it was not surprising that it was not located.
Dark areas of nebulosity are silhouetted against
brighter parts illuminated by nearby stars. Radiation from the stars
sculpts columns similar to those imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in
M16 (see
here).
A small area just left of centre of the black & white image above is
enlarged x3.4 and compared to a high resolution colour image taken with
a 20" Ritchey-Chretien at Kitt Peak:
 |
A finger-like column protrudes west of a larger darker cloud,
the edges illuminated by nearby stars further west. |
 |
See the full sized colour image of NGC 7380
here from the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program, by Kris Sandburg
and Peter Jacobs / Adam Block / NOAO / AURA / NSF |
