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The Strange Case of the Disappearing Nebula [Deep Sky] Acquisition techniques · The0s · ... · 5 · 271 · 2

The0s 4.82
The0s
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Hi everyone,

Recently, I was looking at new targets to image in Cygnus, and I came across an intriguing, tiny, bright blue nebula on the DSS survey (see below) - which is entirely unnamed as far as I can tell. It seemed quite bright in what I would presume is OIII, so I decided to try imaging it with my small refractor, hoping it would show up after stacking a few subframes. However, after stacking close to an hour worth of data, there was nothing (or very close to nothing). Either the nebula is an artifact (possible, but unlikely), has gotten fainter since the DSS survey (possible), or it takes much more than a small refractor to resolve (likely). In any case, if anyone with a more capable setup wants to try imaging this nebula - which I believe would be an AstroBin first - here's the coordinates: 307.007022 +36.0198687. Have fun!

Clear skies,

The0s

Nebula:
Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 8.18.03 AM.png
A wider view:
Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 8.36.51 AM.png
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andreatax 9.89
andrea tasselli
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It's an artefact of the imaging system. Given its relatively high brightness it should have been visibile even with a small instrument. A rather deep OIII sky survey shows nothing at that location:

https://www.simg.de/nebulae3/sge-cyg-ohs.vhtml
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The0s 4.82
The0s
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andrea tasselli:
It's an artefact of the imaging system. Given its relatively high brightness it should have been visibile even with a small instrument. A rather deep OIII sky survey shows nothing at that location:

https://www.simg.de/nebulae3/sge-cyg-ohs.vhtml

Huh, strange. My first thought was that is an artifact, but it doesn't have the typical shape that most artifacts on the DSS survey do. It doesn't look like a mote of dust, there's no nearby bright stars to cause reflections, and it's definitely not a satellite trail, which is why I thought it might be a real structure. In hindsight, though, that would certainly explain why it's uncatalogued.

Edit: Looking into it, since the DSS survey was taken on photographic plates before being scanned and digitized, it's possible the 'nebula' could be an artifact caused by some drop of liquid landing on and damaging one of the plates - which would result in a fairly similar shape. Still, that doesn't fully explain why there's more faint blue nebulosity surrounding the nebula. Assuming it's real, maybe it's actually a reflection and not an emission nebula? That would explain why its not visible in OIII.
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andreatax 9.89
andrea tasselli
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andrea tasselli:
It's an artefact of the imaging system. Given its relatively high brightness it should have been visibile even with a small instrument. A rather deep OIII sky survey shows nothing at that location:

https://www.simg.de/nebulae3/sge-cyg-ohs.vhtml

Huh, strange. My first thought was that is an artifact, but it doesn't have the typical shape that most artifacts on the DSS survey do. It doesn't look like a mote of dust, there's no nearby bright stars to cause reflections, and it's definitely not a satellite trail, which is why I thought it might be a real structure. In hindsight, though, that would certainly explain why it's uncatalogued.

Edit: Looking into it, since the DSS survey was taken on photographic plates before being scanned and digitized, it's possible the 'nebula' could be an artifact caused by some drop of liquid landing on and damaging one of the plates - which would result in a fairly similar shape. Still, that doesn't fully explain why there's more faint blue nebulosity surrounding the nebula. Assuming it's real, maybe it's actually a reflection and not an emission nebula? That would explain why its not visible in OIII.

*There is no reflection nebula at that location otherwise you'll see something, given the relative brightness, in the red plate but it is blank at that location. This is most likely a transverse reflection for the sides of the plate, imo.
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messierman3000 7.22
Oscar
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I found something blue once, uncatalogued, shaped like a propeller, on the DSS survey - I was already naming it the Blue Propeller Nebula

I was already super getting excited and all that, that I found a new reflection nebula

I showed Andrea, we both took data of the spot, a decent amount of data, and there was nothing

they're artifacts
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messierman3000 7.22
Oscar
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I found something uncatalogued and never imaged by anyone before, for real, this time though, I'm waiting to get clear skies and good seeing for it
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