                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2026 January 22

                       LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Fellows

   Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this
   cosmic scene. Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint
   background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic
   exposures of the region. In contrast, a brighter reflection nebula, vdB
   62, is more easily seen just above the dusty dark nebula. LDN 1622 lies
   near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard's
   Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae
   found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the
   obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to lie at a similar distance,
   perhaps 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, this 3 degree wide
   field of view would span about 100 light-years. Young stars do lie
   hidden within the dark expanse and have been revealed in Spitzer Space
   telescope infrared images. Still, the foreboding visual appearance of
   LDN 1622 inspires its popular name, the Boogeyman Nebula.

               Tomorrow's picture: the faint and mostly round
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