Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Eridanus (Eri)  ·  Contains:  IC 2118  ·  The star λEri  ·  The star ψEri  ·  Witch Head nebula

Image of the day 01/12/2019

    IC2118, Shenyan Zhang
    IC2118
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    Image of the day 01/12/2019

      IC2118, Shenyan Zhang
      IC2118
      Powered byPixInsight

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      Description

      This is a 2-frame mosaic. The total exposure time is roughly 7hr (3.5 hr per frame). The exposures were collected between 2019/1/5 and 2019/1/6 over 2 different nights.

      This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just off the upper right edge of the full image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away.

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      IC2118, Shenyan Zhang