LBN 1022 and Thommes' Nebula (V* V900 Mon)

In 2009, amateur astronomer (and super nice guy) Jim Thommes discovered a bright spot about 4,200 light years away inside the nebula LBN 1022. That bright area was not present on photographic plates from the 1960s. Subsequent surveys and academic papers have revealed that it has continued to get brighter over time.

Thommes Nebula is just adjacent to RNO 78—a reflection nebula catalogued in 1980 by Martin Cohen in the survey called Red and Nebulous Objects [RNO] in Dark Clouds.

The larger formation surrounding the two small reflection nebulas is LBN 1022 from Beverly Lynd’s 1965 Catalogue of Bright Nebulae. The dark dust lanes in LBN 1022 were also catalogued by Lynd as LDN 1655 and 1666 in her 1962 Catalogue of Dark Nebulae.