In October 2023, I set out to photograph vdB 1. There are almost no wide field (990mm) images of vdB1 due to the fact that the star Caph is extremely bright. Most imagers focus on vdB1 itself. When processing this photograph, I noticed a bright reflection nebula towards the upper right-center of the image.

This object sits at coordinates 0:04:54.6 +58:33:20. It's situated next to the star HD 225257, and is likely illuminated by it.

The reflection nebula does show up in some survey data, but is very dim. Thanks to modern processing tools and techniques, I was able to make the nebula really stand out. I think due to the nature of how others photographed vdB1 and how faint the reflection nebula is, it's gone unnoticed until now.

Following the lead of others who have stumbled across new uncatalogued objects. I researched all known objects near HD 225257 and came up empty. Not satisfied with my findings, I deferred to other experts like Marcel Drechsler, who also confirmed no other known cataloged objects with reference to these coordinates or the star HD 225257.

I’m officially naming the the object 'Burwell 1', affectionately known as "The Blue Ghost" nebula, since it's remained elusive until now.

Research on unknown objects can be done through several databases which catalog all known objects. You can type in coordinates and it will perform a search around the area to see which objects have been noted and exist in a catalog or scientific paper.

CDS Portal: http://cdsportal.u-strasbg.fr/

ADS: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/

Additionally, you can sometimes also confirm that the object you photographed does exist (and not a fluke of your imaging equipment) by confirming it shows up in survey data. One good way to do this is to search using Aladin, and use those same coordinates or a known star to identify the area.

Aladin: https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr