Photos: Astronomy Centre/X
The Ghost Nebula has been observed in the skies of the UAE. Situated 1,470 light years from Earth, this celestial marvel was christened due to its eerie, cartoon-ghost-like form. The image, captured by the Al Khatem Astronomical Observatory using a 14-inch primary telescope, required 43.5 hours of exposure time. The Ghost Nebula is a reflection nebula positioned within the Cepheus constellation. A reflection nebula consists of cosmic gas and dust that illuminates by reflecting the light of neighboring stars, distinguishing it from emission nebulae that glow independently. In this photograph, several luminous stars reflecting their light onto the nebula are visible, causing it to appear in shades of yellow-brown.
The light traversing from one end of the nebula to the other takes approximately two years. A unique feature of this nebula is the formation on the left side of the image, which resembles small figures raising their hands skyward. The image was captured with a focal length of 2737mm, and the light pollution in the observation area varied between 6 and 7. A total of 870 photographs, spanning 43.5 hours, were taken of the Ghost Nebula. This includes 593 photos using the Luminance filter, each lasting 3 minutes, amounting to 20 hours; 133 photos using the red filter, totaling 6.7 hours; 71 photos using the green filter, totaling 3.6 hours; and 73 photos using the blue filter, totaling 3.7 hours.
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