Monoceros: The Iris and The Ghost

This image centres on the Iris Nebula in Cepheus with the wider view capturing the surrounding dark dust. The Iris is a delicate blue reflection nebula embedded in a cloud of dark dust.

Above the Iris we have the large cloud of nebulosity LDN 1158. Between the Iris and LDN 1158 we have CB 229 and to the south we have small isolated dark cloud with a hint of golden reflection nebula, CB230 which is also nicknamed the ghost nebula.

This image was shot from dark skies using a wide field camera lens and DSLR on a Star Tracker. 6 hours of the best 90 second exposures were used from a total of 8 hours shot.

Photographer: Ronan Hunt
Full Resolution: 3902x3122 pix, 3 Edition Jpeg
Image Credit: Ronan Hunt