LDN 1622 - (AKA THE BOOGEY MAN NEBULA)

DARK AND NEBULA IN ORION (THE HUNTER)

(Image centered at: ra 05h:54 m 06 s / dec + 02º 00' 13'')

COLLABORATION WITH EZEQUIEL BELLOCCHIO (IMAGE ACQUISITION)

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW

December  2025, Observatorio Cielos Albertnos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Dark Nebula Complex

APPARENT DIAMETER:  15 / 20 arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): N/A

DISTANCE: 1500 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Askar SQA55 f4.8 Quintuplet Petzval

CAMERA: ZWO 2600 Color

MOUNT: ZWO AM5M

FILTERS:  None

EXPOSURES: LRGB 6 HS (60 X 300 secs)

SKY CONDITIONS: bortle 3 skies

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

To some, the dark shape looks like a mythical boogeyman. Scientifically, Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic exposures of the region. In contrast, the brighter reflection nebula vdB 62 is more easily seen just above and to the right of center in the featured image. LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard's Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to lie at a similar distance, perhaps 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, this 2-degree wide field of view would span about 60 light-years. (*)

This image is a crop of a larger filed of view that covers 5 degrees including Barnard loop Messier 78 and LDN 1622 acquired by Ezequiel Bellocchio

(*) Text extracted from NASA APOD