Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  Sh2-136  ·  T Cep  ·  VdB141

Image of the day 01/17/2018

The Ghost Nebula, Connor Matherne
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Image of the day 01/17/2018

The Ghost Nebula, Connor Matherne
Powered byPixInsight

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One of the spookier objects in the sky! Not only does it look like multiple flying ghost near the center, but you might even have yourself an existential crisis looking at all these stars!

Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood on planet Earth, they lurk at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across the ghostly nebula and relatively isolated Bok globule, also known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136, is near the center of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation. Even so, if the spooky shapes could talk, they might well wish you a happy Halloween.

Source: APOD

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The Ghost Nebula, Connor Matherne