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Dark Nebula LDN 673 in a sea of golden stars
David Cruz · Astromidnight
In Aquila, in the Great Rift of the Milky Way, the dark cloud LDN 673 completely blots out the stars behind it. All around, thinner dust lets mostly red light through and tints thousands of distant stars gold.
| Catalogue | Lynds Dark Nebulae, 1962 |
| Type | Dark nebula |
| Distance | ≈ 1,300 light-years |
| Field | 134.0′ × 84.6′ |
| Real width | ≈ 52 × 33 light-years |
| Scale | 0.90″ / pixel |
| Orientation | −91° · west up |
| RA (centre) | 19h 21m 24s |
| DEC (centre) | +11° 20′ 44″ |
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Objects in field | 7 LDN · AS 353 and HH 32 · 28 Aql · ω² Aql · K 3-33 |
Distance of LDN 673 from the average of the cloud's roughly 15 young stars measured by Gaia (Herczeg et al. 2019, 407 parsecs); the real width assumes that distance and applies only to the cloud (28 Aql and ω² Aql are much closer). Star distances from Gaia parallax (SIMBAD). Sizes and opacities of the dark nebulae from the Lynds catalogue. Positions of all objects taken from SIMBAD; those of the nebulae are approximate.
9 h 20 min of light
Each tick is a 240-second exposure. 140 in total, with the camera at −10 °C and gain 100. Calibrated with 50 darks, 40 flats and 50 bias. The Moon stayed below 25 % illumination throughout.
TS-Optics 150mm/6" ONTC f/4 Newtonian (carbon tube)
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO AM5
ZWO ASI120MM Mini
TS-Optics Maxfield .95X Coma Corrector · ZWO EAF
Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · ZWO ASIAIR
São Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Évora · 358 m
Bortle 3