Bird Brain - vdB 91 & 93 with IC 2177

For the last year or so, I've had a mild obsession with Sidney van den Bergh's catalogue of reflection nebulas. There are a number of targets from that work that are quite popular among astrophotographers. Others get no attention. And still others are tucked away in or near popular targets but rarely get proper treatment. For a couple of months in early 2025, I engaged in getting up-close shots of vdB objects in or adjacent to the Seagull Nebula and in the nearby Messier 50 region. This is one of them.

Many people refer to IC 2177 as the Seagull Nebula. But IC 2177 really only encompasses the head of the bird. The Seagull Nebula is a much larger formation that includes quite a number of catalogued objects and there is no one major catalogue entry that sweeps up the whole thing. It’s a fascinating part of the sky that merits deep study and this image is just once piece of that.

The Seagull’s Head sits in Monoceros roughly 3,650 light years away and primarily comprises emission material as recorded by Steward Sharpless as Sh2-292, although at its center you can see the tell-tale blue reflection region catalogued as vdB 93. Off to the west (right) side of the head you can also see the blue reflection nebula vdB 91.