IC 348 / IC 1985

This image shows a 7th magnitude star cluster, it's reflection nebula, an extended diffuse nebula and Barnard Dark Nebulae. The bright star at the top is omicron Persei (Atik). The cluster next to Atik is a star forming region with as many as 300 stars  ranging from the brightest at B5 to low mass brown dwarfs. IC 348's reflection nebula is produced by scattered dust and gas and it is about 650 light years (LY) away. The obscuring dark areas are the Barnard Dark Nebulae 1 through 4. This region is located in Perseus between the California nebula and the Pleiades star cluster. 5nm Narrowband filters; H-a:O-III:S-II - 30:42:36 minutes x 6-minute unbinned subframes. Takahashi Epsilon-180, SBIG STL6303E, Chester, Vt, 10 October 2010.