PV Cep

PV Cep

PV Cep is the star embedded in the cloud of gas near the center of the image. It is a star in the process of forming. As it forms, it is also ejecting hot jets of gas, which can be seen as the gently curved, S-shaped line of red blobs of gas that extend to the upper-right and lower-left of PV Cep. The V-shaped cone of light just above PV Cep is red on the right side because the H-alpha data for this image was obtained on two nights over a year apart (June 10th, 2010 and September 16th, 2011). During that time, the illumination of the cone of light by PV Cep changed dramatically.

Observatory: Kitt Peak National Observatory  Kitt Peak, Arizona
Telescope: KPNO 4-Meter
Instrument: Mosaic I  
Astronomer: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF)
Date of Observation: 06-10-2010
Filters and Assigned Colors: B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red)
Exposure Times: 5x10min in B, 5x8min in V, 5x5min in I, 9x10min in H-alpha
Location of Image: Cepheus
Field of View: 14.6 x 21.9 arcmin
Orientation: North is up, East is to the left
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