When star birth meets star death: A shocking encounter

The Bok globule B175, located toward a giant region of patchy extinction 10 degrees above the Galactic plane known as the Cepheus Flare, is currently engaged in a chance encounter with a B9.5 V star, producing a prominent ref lection nebula, Ced 201. Partly owing to the presence of this star, a fairl y accurate distance estimate of 400 pc can be derived for B175. An imaging and spectroscopic study of B175 led to the discovery of a new Herbig-Haro ( HH) object, HH 450, emerging from a deeply embedded and cold IRAS source, 2 2129+7000. Furthermore, we find several parsec-scale filaments of emission that trace the rim of a new supernova remnant, G110.3+11.3, which appears t o be approaching the globule. This remnant is located near the edge of a la rge, 6 degrees radius H I and CO cavity that coincides with a bright diffus e soft X-ray enhancement, probably due to several recent supernova explosio ns. At 400 pc, G110.3+11.3 is one of the closer known supernova remnants. T he supernova remnant and the HH flow appear to be heading toward a frontal collision in about 1000 yr.