Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  16 Cep  ·  The star 16Cep  ·  VdB149  ·  VdB150
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
LDN 1235 - The Shark Nebula, Timothy Martin
Powered byPixInsight

LDN 1235 - The Shark Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
LDN 1235 - The Shark Nebula, Timothy Martin
Powered byPixInsight

LDN 1235 - The Shark Nebula

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Here we have two sharks in one photograph. The Shark Nebula, LDN 1235, is a dark nebula 15 light years across and 650 light years away in the Cepheus constellation. In the head of the Shark, a second shark can be observed in the form of the Dark Shark Nebula (I personally refer to this formation as “Left Shark”). I’ve posted a tight crop of the latter along with the wider angle of the former.

We used Hyperstar at F2 to capture this object, but even with four hours of exposure time at that fast focal ratio, it was still a challenge to dig out the meaningful data. The issue is that the photometric characteristics of the nebula aren’t that different from the light pollution characteristics of Dallas and Frisco. Only some very deft processing by Mr. Nicface revealed this glorious shape in all its splendor.

One thing that makes this nebula unusual is that rather than being formed largely from primordial hydrogen like most of the red nebulas we’ve photographed, the gasses and dust that form this nebula are generally made from material expelled from young, energetic stars—with those materials being continuously diffused by the strong stellar winds of those stars. Ultimately, this entire formation will disappear into the black. But for now, in this stelliferous era, we get to see this beautiful amalgam.

“Then come kiss me sweet and twenty! Youth’s a stuff will not endure.” ~ Shakespeare

Comments