Witch Head Nebula
Witch Head Nebula
Happy Halloween! The Witch Head Nebula
(aka IC 2118), is a very faint reflection nebula around 900 light years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. It is beleived to be an ancient supernova remnant. It was nicknamed the Witch Head because it looks like a profile of a wicked witch. It is illuminated by the bright star Rigel in Orion which is just out of frame to the right.
Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of IC 2118, an indicator of the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. In fact candidates for pre-main sequence stars and some classic T-Tauri stars have been found deep within the nebula.
(aka IC 2118), is a very faint reflection nebula around 900 light years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. It is beleived to be an ancient supernova remnant. It was nicknamed the Witch Head because it looks like a profile of a wicked witch. It is illuminated by the bright star Rigel in Orion which is just out of frame to the right.
Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of IC 2118, an indicator of the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. In fact candidates for pre-main sequence stars and some classic T-Tauri stars have been found deep within the nebula.
SPECIFICATIONS
Telescope
Takahashi FSQ106ED (Aus-2)
Camera
FLI PL 16803
Location
Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
Date of observation
5th October - 10th November 2021
Filters
Astrodon LRGB
Processing
Pixinsight, Graxpert, RC Astro Tools, Photoshop
Credits
Data: Telescope Live Processing: Jonathan Lodge
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Comments
Wow! This one came out really fantastic!
Thank you very much Chris, it's one that I've wanted to process for ages but kept getting sidetracked, took a bit of cleaning up!