The Dodo Nebula vdB152

About the Object

vdB 152, commonly known as the Dodo Nebula, is a faint reflection nebula located about 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Its bluish glow is produced by starlight scattered by interstellar dust, while the surrounding dark clouds obscure the light of more distant stars. The nebula lies at the tip of a long, sinuous dust structure associated with Barnard 175, giving the region its distinctive appearance.

There is a red streak in front of Dodo’s beak. Initially I though of a residual from a satellite trail, but indeed the region below Dodo’s head has quite a bit quite structured Halpha emission, and the streak is just a denser part that made it into RGB. So it may be worth adding some Halpha imaging near the next (clear) full Moon.

Observation Notes

Data were taken on 2026 October 10, 12, and 14

Technical Details

View the full-resolution image together with complete acquisition and processing details on AstroBin.