vdB 24, Star XY Per

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. vdB 24 is a reflection nebula in the constellation of Perseus. It is illuminated by the luminous and variable star 'XY Per', which is the bright star just below the blue nebulosity near the center of the image. vdB 24 is embedded in a larger dark nebula called LDN 1442, which can be seen as the brownish gas surrounding it. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), V (green) and I (red). In this image, North is down and East is to the right.