250531 - LDN 43 - "Cosmic Bat" nebula
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click image to enlarge
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ASTRO:
type=dark nebula const=Ophiuchus mag=(not published - very faint) dist=1400 ly size=12 ly IMAGE: location=Emerald Bay community, Texas BrtlCls=4 moon=23% WxCr exposure=CMOS OSC: 86x240s (5.7h), G100 EQUIPMENT: camera=ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro optics=ES102 w24mmEP 1.7x (afoc prjctn), F=1238mm, f/12.1 filter=Optolong L-Pro LPS mount=Celestron AVX guiding=Orion 60x240mm, ZWO ASi224MC SOFTWARE: acquisition=Stellarium, NINA, PHD2 processing=PixInsight (RCAstro), Photoshop (HLVG), LrC |
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What is the most spooky nebula in the galaxy? One contender is LDN 43, which bears an astonishing resemblance to a vast Cosmic Bat flying amongst the stars on a dark Halloween night. Located about 1400 light years away in the southern part of the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. This 12 light-year long filament of gas and dust is actually a stellar nursery. Glowing with the eerie light of several Herbig-Haro objects, the "bat" is lit up from inside by those dense gaseous knots that are just now forming new, young stars.
This object is the 43rd entry in the Lynds Dark Nebulae (LDN) Catalog, published by US astronomer Dr. Beverly Turner Lynds in 1962. Dr. Lynds used the 48 inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory to develop two (2) extensive catalogs concentrated almost exclusively on nebulae, of which the LDN list was only one. (The other was her Lynds Bright Nebulae (LBN) Catalog list.) Her LDN list includes 1802 dark nebulae down to the -33° declination limit of the Palomar telescope.
LDN 43 is obscuring a larger bright nebula behind it, LBN 7. LBN 7 is the illuminated dust surrounding the dark nebula. In addition, two cometary nebulae are seen at the center of LDN 43. The first, GN 16.31.7, is the brightest yellow object at center, lit up by the hidden young star RNO 91. Slightly above and right is the 2nd cometary nebula, GN 16.31.3, lit up by RNO 90.
The small galaxy seen below LDN 43, immediately adjacent to a bright orange star (with starburst added), is LEDA 3868080. This galaxy is located 400 million light years away. It is slightly larger than our home Milky Way, at about 130,000 light years in diameter. This background galaxy is appx 285,000 times further away than the foreground nebula.
This object is the 43rd entry in the Lynds Dark Nebulae (LDN) Catalog, published by US astronomer Dr. Beverly Turner Lynds in 1962. Dr. Lynds used the 48 inch telescope at the Palomar Observatory to develop two (2) extensive catalogs concentrated almost exclusively on nebulae, of which the LDN list was only one. (The other was her Lynds Bright Nebulae (LBN) Catalog list.) Her LDN list includes 1802 dark nebulae down to the -33° declination limit of the Palomar telescope.
LDN 43 is obscuring a larger bright nebula behind it, LBN 7. LBN 7 is the illuminated dust surrounding the dark nebula. In addition, two cometary nebulae are seen at the center of LDN 43. The first, GN 16.31.7, is the brightest yellow object at center, lit up by the hidden young star RNO 91. Slightly above and right is the 2nd cometary nebula, GN 16.31.3, lit up by RNO 90.
The small galaxy seen below LDN 43, immediately adjacent to a bright orange star (with starburst added), is LEDA 3868080. This galaxy is located 400 million light years away. It is slightly larger than our home Milky Way, at about 130,000 light years in diameter. This background galaxy is appx 285,000 times further away than the foreground nebula.