LDN 43 - The Cosmic Bat |
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 LDN 43 - Click on thumbnails below to view larger image. Opens in a new window. |
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| Many deep sky objects have been nicknamed as a
bat in one form or another, but LDN 43 looks (to me at least)
the most like one flying head-on towards the viewer. In the
uncropped view of this region the bat even looks as though it is
flying through a cloudy sky. LDN 43 is located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus and is 12 light-years wide. This is the 43rd entry in the Lynds Dark Nebula catalogue, and is a molecular cloud dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. This specific dark nebula is a stellar nursery and is lit up from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars. Specifically, there are two RNO objects (I could not find the meaning of the RNO - best guess is "Reflective Nebular Object?") embedded within LDN 43: RNO 91 is the bat's "nose", while RNO 90 is the bright spot on the bat's right shoulder (to the left of RNO 91 in this image). These objects are illuminated by YSO's (Young Stellar Objects). Below LDN 43 is a background galaxy, LEDA 3868080, estimated to be 400 million light-years away and 130,000 light-years across (bigger than our Milky Way's estimated size). So it's tough to call that a "little" galaxy. Link to Astrobin version. |
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| Constellation: Ophiucus | ||
| When Visible: June - August | ||
| Distance: 1,400 Light-years | ||
| Date: July - August 2026 | ||
| Location: Location: Starfront Observatories, Rockwood, Texas | ||
| Exposure Details:
L: 189 × 3 minutes R: 51 × 3 minutes G: 45 × 3 minutes B: 44 × 3 minutes 27 hrs 25 minutes total exposure |
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| Equipment Used: Takahashi FSQ-106N on a ZWO AM5N mount. ZWO ASI-2600MM Pro camera with 7 x 50mm filter wheel and Antlia Pro filters. Externally guided with a ZWO ASI224MC camera on a William Optics UniGuide 50 guide scope. | ||
| Acquisition Software : Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy, PHD2 | ||
| Processing Software: MaximDL, PixInsight, Photoshop CS5, IrFanView | ||
