Objects around Hind's variable nebula to Sh2-239
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This image captures a 3×2° area in the northern part of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus.
A bright star visible in the upper left of the photo is ε Tauri. In this region, a portion of the "Taurus Molecular Cloud" is distributed.
Although it appears to overlap with the Hyades, it is actually more than three times farther away.
Stretching from the upper right to the lower left of the field of view, a molecular cloud extends over a length of 2.5 degrees in a belt-like fashion, identified by the designation LBN819.
Both ends of this molecular cloud have newborn primitive stars known as "T Tauri".
Two small reflection nebulae are visible by reflecting the light of these stars.
Firstly, a small reflection nebula seen at the upper right end is NGC1554. Its span is modest, about 1.5 arcminutes, requiring a large telescope for visual confirmation.
This nebula reflects the light from a T Tauri (HD 284419), 9th magnitude star visible just to the east.
Due to variations in the brightness of this evolving star, the nebula is also known by the alternate name "Hind's variable nebula," named after its discoverer.
Next, an emission nebula visible at the lower left end of LBN819 is Sh2-239.
The surrounding dark nebula LDN1551 (a part of LBN819) is illuminated by the light of a recently born dark T Tauri star.
This dark nebula has a circular shape with an apparent diameter of about 40 arcminutes, and its outer regions emit a faint glow due to the light from surrounding stars.
The brightest part of Sh2-239 is cataloged as HH102, representing an active jet structure of interstellar gas known as the "Herbig-Haro object".
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