Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  B148  ·  B150  ·  PGC 167690  ·  PGC 167697  ·  PGC 2601822  ·  PGC 97245
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Barnard 150 - 2020, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

Barnard 150 - 2020

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Barnard 150 - 2020, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

Barnard 150 - 2020

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

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. The object is the 150th entry in the Barnard catalog of 182 dark sky nebulae, cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard.

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 can embrace.

Comments