vdB 141 (Sh2-136) - Reflection Nebula in Cepheus

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VdB 141 (also known as Sh2-136) is a reflection nebula joint in an emission nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. It is catalogued by Sidney van den Bergh in 1966 and it is often referred to as the Ghost Nebula due to several human-like figures with arms raised. Illuminating the nebula is a star still in the formation process identified as BD+67 1300 and is of type FU Orionis which is quite rare and exhibits very unusual brightening and dimming behavior.

VdB 141 is located in the western part of the constellation, about one degree to the east of the famous nebula NGC 7023. VdB 141 is an isolated Bok globule, located in the large dark nebulous system that masks the light of the Milky Way in the constellation of Cepheus, the distance is about 1470 light years. The central globule is known by the initials CB 230, it houses the infrared radiation source IRAS 21169 +6804, associated with a young stellar object (YSO) at the center of a bipolar jet. The jet is oriented in the N-S direction superimposed on a fainter elongated emission feature and has a total length of about 0.06 light years. Another interesting new finding is that the small nebulous emission to the East, previously thought to be a single object which together with source A represents an embedded binary system, is seen to contain two sources (labeled B1 and B2), making this a triple system.

Courtesy: Outflows and jets from low mass protostars in Bok globules: the case of CB230
(F. Massi, C. Codella, J. Brand, L. Di Fabrizio, and J. Wouterloot)

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