#ic1283

IC1283/IC1284 and NGC6589/NGC6590 in Sagittarius on Flickr.

IC 1283 and vdB118/vdB119. This image shows a rarely imaged area of complex nebulousity in Sagittarius, north of the more familiar M8/M20 region. The view is packed with a number of emission nebulae and intricate patterns of obscuring dust as well as two bright blue reflection nebulae at the top, known as vdB118 and vdB119, or NGC 6589 and NGC 6590 respectively. The bright blue stars that light up these reflection nebulae are members of NGC 6595 (Sharpless 37) which is a loose open cluster of stars lying at a distance of about 5,900 light years. The bright magenta nebula in the centre is IC 1283, and the somewhat fainter extension toward the bottom left is known separately as IC 1284. Visible to the left are some of the outermost extensions of nearby Messier 24, The Sagittarius Star Cloud, enveloped in the soft diffuse reddish glow of ionised Hydrogen. The entire scene appears particularly colourful due to the nebulae overlaying and obscuring each other to various degrees, all while embedded in the densely packed star fields that dominate views towards the Milky Way centre.