There are 5 different types of nebulae visible in this image:

• The dark nebula Barnard 175, a dense pillar of dust (nearly vertical in this image);
• The reflection nebula van den Bergh 152, shining a characteristic blue at the bottom of this dark pillar;
• The old planetary nebula DeHt 5 radiating mainly in the wavelengths of ionized hydrogen and oxygen (red and blue) near the top edge of the image;
• Part of the supernova remnant SNR 110.3+11.3, whose ionized hydrogen filaments (red) cross the field;
• A background of interstellar dust covering more or less the whole image.

Also visible in this image are a few far more distant galaxies as small discrete patches, in spite of all the Milky Way foreground.

The van den Bergh 152 complex is located nearly 1,400 light years distant in the direction of Cepheus. The dust of Barnard 175 scatters light from the bright star embedded in the southern end of the nebula giving it the blueish color. Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim reddish luminescence in the nebular dust. This embedded star has probably not formed within the nebula as its measured velocity is very different from the cloud's velocity.

Cepheus Center - Wolf's Cave Nebula and Environment, telelens photograph.