Frank Drake's Nebula...A Never Observed Challenge in Cygnus?

[Scott Harrington]

Hey all,

This ones been on my list for two years now, and I'm still hoping to nail it. The nebula, discovered in the late 1950's by Westerhout in radio wavelengths and by Frank Drake photographically, lies right up next to the 2nd-magnitude star Gamma Cygni. Known as Westerhout 66 / Drake's Nebula / DR 4 / DWB 63, it should be bright enough to be seen if you can block Gamma, plus it should respond to a narrowband filter!

Thomas Ammann image

For a wider image, see the full field image by Thomas Ammann, which recently made the AstroBin Picture of the Day!

And for more about the nebula's discovery, please refer to my Amastro post from 2024.

Scott Harrington