B 103 (LDN 497) Dark Nebula in Scutum

Located at: RA 18 hours 39 minutes 21 seconds, Dec -06 degrees 37 minutes 48 seconds

Size: 8.0' x 3.0'; Magnitude: --; Class: 6 Ir

North is up

West to the right

Telescope:

8" f5 Newtonian reflector
Camera:

 ST-8XME, self-guided, binned 1x1, temp -20c, camera control MaxIm DL 4.56
Image:

Lumicon Red filter, 530 minutes (53 x 10 minute subs), 09/6/9/10/2010; 2.6-3.6 FWHM per CCDStack
Processing:

CCDStack 2.11.3874.21660, Photoshop 7.0
Location:

 Rolling Roof Observatory, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (+34d 13m 29s -118h 52m 20s)
Notes:

Another of the many Dark Nebulae clustering around the edge of the great Scutum Star Cloud. B 103 is on the Western edge; also see B 104, B 110, B 113 and B127/129/130.

This information from the on-line Edward Emerson Barnard "A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of The Milky Way":

 
103
 α(2000)18h 39m 26s, δ(2000) -6° 41´
Galactic Coordinates 26, -0
Irregular, diam. 4´, one small star in it. Apparently a real object, the south of several dark markings covering a space 45' in diameter. They form a notched outline to the northwest side of the large star cloud in Scutum.