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High above, woven into the tapestry of Orion's shimmering stars, lie two celestial wonders: M78 ‘the mirror of creation’ and the ‘Boogeyman Nebula’ are divided from each other by an illusive red band known only as “Barnard’s Loop”.
M78, the Mirror of Creation, shines with a ghostly blue hue, reflecting the light of nascent stars wrapped in cosmic dust—a luminous beacon heralding the birth of new worlds. Adjacent to this radiant glow, the Boogeyman Nebula looms as a Beacon in the Darkness, its shadowy silhouette obscuring the starlight behind it, embodying the profound mysteries that the cosmos holds.
Together, they paint a mesmerizing portrait of light and shadow, creation and obscurity, inviting us to peer deeper into the universe's most enigmatic corners through the lens of modern astrophotography. Here, the scene is revealed by hours of exposure by the revolutionary D3 Smart Telescope.
Barnard's Loop Mosaic
In the late last week of December 2024, I aimed my DWARF 3 at a stretch of Barnard's Loop, a vast, faint arc of hydrogen gas that curves broadly around Orion's belt and sword stars, at the center of which are those two well known and celebrated nebulae.
Nestled within this deep-space tapestry is M78, the "mirror of creation," the brightest reflection nebula in the night sky, glowing like a celestial lantern as it scatters the light of nearby hot stars. But the real challenge? The Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622), a sneaky little dark nebula that lurks in Orion's foreground, absorbs more light than it emits—basically the ultimate game of cosmic hide-and-seek. This one takes serious exposure time to pull from the shadows!
Another gem in the capture nestled above the glowing red arc is the intriguing NGC 2112, an ancient open star cluster over 2 billion years old. This makes it a true elder statesman in a region filled with hot, reddish stars. Seeing all these objects together in one wide-field mosaic puts Orion's complexity into perspective—stellar nurseries, ancient clusters, glowing nebulae, and dark dust clouds woven into one massive cosmic story.
M78, the "mirror of creation"
M78 captivates astrophotographers with its ethereal blue glow. Often dubbed the Mirror of Creation, it shines by reflecting the light of nearby young, hot stars enveloped in cosmic dust. This glow isn't just a visual spectacle—it's a glimpse into a stellar nursery where new stars are born, illuminating the processes that continue to shape our universe. The interplay of light and dust in M78 creates a cosmic canvas, showcasing the delicate artistry of star formation. With the advent of modern astrophotography and accessible technology like the Dwarf 3 smart telescope, capturing the radiant beauty of M78 has become an attainable adventure, bringing us closer to the ongoing dance of creation unfolding light-years away.
The Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622)
Adjacent to the radiant glow of M78, the enigmatic Boogeyman Nebula—also known as LDN 1622—lurks within the constellation Orion, cloaked in cosmic shadow. I have dubbed this the Beacon in the Darkness. This dark nebula earns its haunting moniker from the silhouette it casts against the starlit backdrop, resembling a phantom figure woven from interstellar dust and gas. Unlike its luminous neighbor, the Boogeyman Nebula doesn't emit or reflect light; instead, it absorbs the brilliance of stars behind it, creating a striking contrast that captivates astrophotographers and stargazers alike. Albeit a tiny area of illumination in a glowing cocoon (see below), this celestial shadow puppetry not only adds depth to the tapestry of the night sky but also conceals stellar nurseries where new stars quietly ignite. Unveiling the mysterious allure of the Boogeyman Nebula invites us to peer into the universe's hidden recesses.
The shadowy clouds of LDN 1622 are pictured in this observation from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. This image was captured in 2018 by the Mosaic-3 instrument, a wide-field camera used to capture large swaths of the night sky from Kitt Peak in Arizona.
Shot Details
This was a mosaic of six overlapping captures, each exposed for three hours, totaling 18 hours of integration time—all shot in AZ mode with 30-second subs, 60 Gain, and the built-in Dual Band filter on my DWARF 3. I'm impressed by how much faint detail this little scope pulled out, especially in the darker bogeyman. Post-processing involved Topaz DeNoise AI for noise reduction, Photoshop for star management and color refinement, and Lightroom for final adjustments—a process that took another three hours. This one pushed my workflow, but seeing the Boogeyman finally appear out of the darkness made it all worth it!
Location & Observation
M 78 is easy to locate, about 3° northeast of Zeta Orionis (Alnitak), the easternmost star in Orion's Belt. Visually, M 78 resembles a faint comet. It is just visible in binoculars under good conditions as a very dim nebulous patch about 8' x 6' in size. Small telescopes show it remarkably well, and reveal the two illuminating stars, which appear like a double nucleus in the compact "comet head". These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M 78 visible. The nebula fans out to the southwest and suggests a faint comet tail.
The other nebulae in this field require a very dark sky, and are much more challenging to see. Under excellent conditions, a 4-inch scope can reveal NGC 2071, and suggestions of haze around M 78. Fewer stars to the west indicate that dark nebulae in this region obscure the stellar background. To spot the loop itself, a long-exposure astrophoto session is required; for this, I recommend the D3.
About 1-3/4° east of M 78, the open cluster NGC 2112 is found; this cluster is of about 9th magnitude and 11' in diameter. It lies behind M 78 at a distance of about 2800 light-years and is much older, estimated at 2 billion years.
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