H-NGC1788
Reflection Nebula in Orion
About
Orion holds this reflection nebula, about 1,300 light-years away. Along its southwest side lies LDN 1616, a dark cloud, where the nebula ends fairly abruptly. In wide-field images it resembles a bat, hence the name Cosmic Bat; one imager calls it the Fox Face Nebula. It is also in the Herschel 400.
Imaging tips
- Sources give 5′ × 3′: 3030–5050 mm on APS-C frames it, though it is too small to frame on full frame.
- A reflection nebula, so use broadband. At 21.6 mag/arcsec² it is dim; one imager called it very dim and took many 60-second subs.
- One imager says the best images of this target take 30 hours or more. A 30-hour image on a large remote telescope in Chile combined LRGB with Hα.
- It sits just above Rigel, near IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula; one imager notes that a wide-field Witch Head frame may already include part of it.
- Best in November and December, but it peaks near 37° altitude from 50°N.
Facts
- Size
- 8′ × 5′
- Magnitude
- 9.0
- Coordinates
- RA 5h 6.9m, Dec −3° 21′
- Framing, APS-C
- 3030–5050 mm
- Framing, full frame
- longer than 4000 mm
- Best months
- Nov, Dec
- Peak altitude
- 37° from 50°N, 52° from 35°N