Sharpless2-171 is part of a bigger nebula, NGC 7822, in Cepheus. It is an emission nebula with elephant trunks, or pillars, carved by stellar winds of the hot bright stars within the nebula. However, to me, this nebula looks like a teddy bear staring straight at us from space. The two brightest stars are its eyes, it has large, round red ears, a brown nose, and an inverted V-shaped mouth line. Michael Bakich, photography editor of Astronomy magazine, agreed with me and published this image as “The Teddy Bear Nebula”.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Exposures: Ha:R:G:B=630L130:130:115=16 hours, 45 minutes total exposure at f/7.5.

This image was published in the December, 2019 issue of Astronomy magazine.