Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 February 21

                       LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Min Xie

   Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this
   cosmic scene. 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 right of center. 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 1 degree wide
   field of view would span about 30 light-years. Young stars do lie
   hidden within the dark expanse and have been revealed in Spitzer Space
   telescope infrared images. Still, the foreboding visual appearance of
   LDN 1622 inspires its popular name, the Boogeyman Nebula.

                   Tomorrow's picture: Central Centaurus A
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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