Sharpless 2-200—The Bear Claw Nebula

Sh2-200, the Bear Claw Nebula, is an old planetary nebula in Cassiopeia. Stewart Sharpless originally classified it as an HII region in 1959. In 1982, Weinberger, et al, proposed it as a planetary nebula instead of as merely an HII region. They estimated its distance at around 1,000 light years, but other estimates place it at 3,600 light years away from us.

I have seen some estimates of the age of this object ranging from 6,000 to 20,000 years. But I have been unable to verify that with an authoritative source. The nebula itself is surrounded by ionized hydrogen as well as brown-shaded molecular material that textures the red hydrogen with an orange tint.