Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  B148  ·  B149  ·  B150  ·  HD197373  ·  HD197734  ·  HD198300  ·  HD198662  ·  HD199306  ·  HD200205  ·  LDN 1076  ·  LDN 1082
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Barnard 150, Gary Imm
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Barnard 150

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Barnard 150, Gary Imm
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Barnard 150

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Description

This object is a dark nebula located 1200 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus at a declination of +60 degrees. It is about 1° in length, which corresponds to an actual length of about 20 light years. 

Barnard 150 is the 150th entry in the Barnard catalog of 182 dark sky nebulae, cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer Dr. E. E. Barnard (known as “the man who never slept”).  This object is also known as the 1082th entry in the 1802 member Lynds Dark Nebulae (LDN) catalog, published by US astronomer Dr. Beverly Turner Lynds in 1962.

Dark nebulae are interstellar clouds so dense that their dust grains obscure the light from the background stars. Note that the dim stars which are just barely visible through the dark nebulae are primarily orange, since starlight in the bluer wavelengths is more easily reflected. Astronomers believe that star formation is taking place in the inner regions of these dark nebulae.

This object is nicknamed the Seahorse Nebula. Unlike many named sky objects, this nickname is easy to visualize in the image and does not conjure up strange thoughts in my mind (e.g. Deer Lick Galaxy, War & Peace Nebula, etc.). So it is one of the few nicknames I enjoy.

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