M78 and LDN1622 nebulae in Orion constellation
In the image centre we see the Barnard's ring, an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion. The ring is part of a giant molecular cloud that contains the Orion Nebula and many other celestial objects. The ring has the shape of a large arc, with the centre located in the Orion Nebula. It is believed that the stars contained in the nebula are responsible for the ionisation of the entire ring. The ring is truly enormous. It extends about 10 degrees, covering a large part of the Orion constellation. The cloud is estimated to be 1600 light years from Earth and is 300 light years across. It probably originated from a supernova that exploded about 2 million years ago. At the top right is M78, the brightest reflection nebula in the sky. The two stars illuminating the dust cloud in M78 are catalogued as HD 38563A and HD 38563B and are of magnitude 10. The actual extent of the nebula is about 4 light years. At the bottom left, LDN1622 is a dark nebula, a dust cloud that is also part of Barnard's ring. At the top of LDN1622 a small yellow spot can be seen, this is vdB 62 a reflection nebula.
Size: 12228px × 8055px
Location: Milky Way
Photo credit: © Giulio Ercolani / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: area, astro, astronomical, astronomy, astrophoto, astrophotography, clouds, colour, constellation, cosmos, dust, emission, formation, gas, hydrogen, ldn1622, light, m78, milky, molecular, nebula, nebulosity, night, open, orion, outer, red, reflection, science, sky, space, star, starry, stellar, universe
