Legendary Dutch-Canadian astronomer Sidney van den Bergh studied at Princeton, Ohio State, and Göttingen where he received his doctorate in 1956. Although retired from teaching and administration, he continues his research at Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria to this day at age 96.
van den Bergh published his renowned catalogue (vdB Catalogue) of reflection nebulas in 1966 in an article in the Astronomical Journal creatively entitled A Study of Reflection Nebulae while he was at the University of Toronto. A reflection nebula is a cloud of gas lit up by a nearby star. Many of them are blue in color and their visibility does not depend on the size of the gas cloud. Rather, that visibility is determined by the brightness and distance of the star as well as the density and makeup of the gas.
The original publication contained 158 entries, but René Racine expanded it to 159 in 1968. van den Bergh compiled the list by examining the red and blue glass photographic plates from the Palomar Sky Survey (POSS I) and included objects North of -33 declination in the Northern Hemisphere. As with other specialized catalogues, objects in the vdB Catalogue often overlap with objects in the Messier, NGC, and other catalogues.
The vdB Catalogue is an enticing source of targets for amateur astronomers. But most of the objects are small—usually only a few arcminutes in apparent size. So it typically requires a larger telescope with a longer focal length to do them justice. Few amateurs have captured all 159 vdB objects, but that won't stop me from trying. As of this writing in August 2025, I've managed to image 72 with 87 left to go—so it could take me a while. You can see the ones I've captured below.
