Two very nice reflection nebulae in constellation Cassiopeia embedded in dusty molecular clouds.

The bright filaments in the center of the image belong to vdB 9 (aka LBN 643), an reflection nebula illuminated by the bright star SU Cas, which is a classic Cepheid variable star 1289 light years away with a period of about 2 days.

vdB 7 is the bright nebulosity on the lower right, also a reflection nebula, illuminated by a much fainter star. RZ CAS, which is the bright star next to this nebula, is unrelated to this nebula but nevertheless an interesting object by itself. 219 light years away it is an eclipsing binary system with a period of about 29 hours and one of its components is a pulsating variable star by itself.

Additionally vdB 8 (another reflection nebula) is just partly visible as a light streak on the left edge of the image.

The dark molecular clouds forming something like a “Helping Hand” reaching out from a dark shoulder are labeled LDN 1355, LDN 1357 and LDN 1358. Below the “elbow” of the arm you can see a nice dark globule illuminated by stars from inside the dusty blob.

Celestron RASA 11 v2
Celestron CGX-L mount
RisingCam ATR3CMOS26000KPA
UV/IR Cut filter
Bortle 4-5
No moon
767x30s
Integration time: 6h 23min 30sec

PixInsight