APOD: Dark Nebula LDN 1622 and Barnard's Loop (2017 Apr 06)

[APOD Robot]

Dark Nebula LDN 1622 and Barnard's Loop

Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this cosmic scene. Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears below center against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only easily seen in long telescopic exposures of the region. 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. Arcs along a segment of Barnard's loop stretch across the top of the frame. But the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to be much closer than Orion's more famous nebulae, perhaps only 500 light-years away. At that distance, this 1 degree wide field of view would span less than 10 light-years.

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[Boomer12k]

"The Dark Ghost" Nebula....Villan or SUPER HERO??????? Look out behind you Dark Ghost...the Nebula Monster is about to attack!!!!

Great shot...

:---[===] *

[heehaw]

Lynds! Don't know if it is Beverly or Roger. I think Beverly. I vividly remember being a summer student at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Roger Lynds showing us an astronomical photograph like we'd NEVER seen before, and asking "what is it?" It showed the usual spots: stars, galaxies - but it also showed a narrow arc! Extremely mysterious! Gravitational lens we now know! In those days, the Barnothy's attended every AAS meeting, and one of the two always gave a talk on gravitational lenses, which had never been seen.... oh those were primitive days, my friends!

[Ann]

"The Dark Ghost" Nebula....Villan or SUPER HERO??????? Look out behind you Dark Ghost...the Nebula Monster is about to attack!!!!

Great shot...

:---[===] *

Click to view full size image

Dexter the tapir baby. Photo: Tim Ireland/PA

Click to view full size image

LDN 1622 the space tapir baby(?). Photo: Leonardo Julio.

Sure! It looks like a space alien to me! But look how cute it is. Maybe it is a space tapir baby - there is something about that snout... (Although I must admit that the real Dexter has cuter eyes.)

And if LDN 1622 is a baby creature of some kind, it sure isn't so little. LDN 1622 must be a light-year long! That reminds me of a slightly weird Star Trek story I read way back when... Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise came across a dust cloud of some sort, which turned out to be a free-floating alien the size of a solar system! You have to wonder how its metabolism worked.

Anyway, great picture! Perhaps there is a little Enterprise there (or a real little Dexter the tapir baby?) if you look closely!

Ann

[UCHSAstro]

Any way you can always tag the stars and any planets, galaxies, nebulas, etc. in the space pictures you show so that when you scroll onto the picture the names of the celestial bodies shown? It would be helpful and interesting. Thanks.

[neufer]

Lynds! Don't know if it is Beverly or Roger. I think Beverly. I vividly remember being a summer student at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Roger Lynds showing us an astronomical photograph like we'd NEVER seen before, and asking "what is it?" It showed the usual spots: stars, galaxies - but it also showed a narrow arc! Extremely mysterious! Gravitational lens we now know! In those days, the Barnothy's attended every AAS meeting, and one of the two always gave a talk on gravitational lenses, which had never been seen.... oh those were primitive days, my friends!

Beverly & Roger came that close to patenting: Gravitational Lynds_®

• (and the Lymands-alpha forest_®)

[De58te]

To me the ghost looks like a white, fat Garfield the Grumpy Cat. He is sitting up on his hind legs. His right eye seems to be swollen though but his left eye is perfect. His mouth also seems to have been knocked over to his left side of the nose and he has two right ears on his head. There is also a fainter image of a giant eagle or snow owl in flight above Garfield. The owl is holding the bright white star in its talons as if it caught the star as prey.

[Case]

Lynds! Don't know if it is Beverly or Roger. I think Beverly.

[LDN] ‘Catalogue of Dark Nebulae’ (1962), B.T. Lynds.
Those initials seem to match Beverly Turner Lynds.

She also made a Catalogue of Bright Nebulae [LBN] a few years later (1965).