The Cosmic Bat
Is it Halloween yet ? An eerie dark dusty nebula in space would suggest so. Taking the shape of a flying mammal of the order Chiroptera, LDN 43 appears as a dusty dark Cosmic Bat. Located about 1400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, this molecular cloud is dense enough to block light not only from background stars, but from wisps of gas lit up by the nearby reflection nebula LBN 7. Far from being a harbinger of death, this 12-light year-long filament of gas and dust is actually a stellar nursery. Glowing with eerie light, the bat is lit up from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars.
Telescope: Planewave CDK 24 inch
Camera: Moravian C5A-100 mono
Filters : Chroma LRGBSHO
Mount: Planewave L-600
Observatory : Obstech
R= 30 x 300s
G= 30 x 300s
B= 30 x 300s
Ha = 30 x 300s
Total integration = 10hrs
Software : NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop