Pipe Nebula - Barnard Dark Nebula ID Mouse-over!
Rather than try to describe all the interesting dark nebulae and other objects on this page I put together a mouseover. Hold your mouse over the image above and a chart will display. The red, numbered objects represent the Barnard Dark Nebula designation per The Sky X. There are numerous globular star clusters as well, including Messier objects M62, M19, and M9. There's also a huge and slightly different version of this Pipe Nebula image on my Zeiss 135mm page here. This is from my 2016 Davis Mountains trip; 100 minutes total exposure at f4 with the Nikon D810A camera. I have a page with prime focus images of some of the dark nebula in the pipe area here. My image processing techniques and workflow are discussed here
I spent some quality time on the dark nebulae in the pipe area during my 2014 Davis Mountains trip. This section of the Southern Milky Way is one of the richest areas of the sky and I can't get enough of it. Compare this image with the one below from 14 years earlier that represents one of my best film images.
Details on image above: 4/25/14, 3:17 a.m. to 4:40 a.m. and consists of 15*5 minute frames with the Canon 20Da & Canon 85mm f1.8 lens at f4.5, ISO 1600, standard DSLR processing plus 2 layers of star subtractions (bright, dim) and separate processing of each area.
Milky Way - Pipe Nebula
Davis Mountains, TX, May 30, 2000
17 minute exposure (unguided)
Piggyback on Losmandy GM-8
Pentax K1000, 50mm f1.4 lens at f2.8
Kodak PJ-400
Negative Scan, Minolta Scan Dual
Processed in PhotoshopThis is the richest area of the Milky Way visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Objects of interest include the Antares region of Scorpius on the lower right, the Pipe Nebula in the lower center (looks like a pipe with smoke rising out of it), and the Lagoon, Trifid, Omega, and Eagle Nebulae (running up the spine of the Milky Way). I've identified some of these objects on my annotated pipe nebula. The dark clouds also look like a horse, referred to as the galactic dark horse. The horse is pointing up in the above orientation, with hind quarters on the bottom; legs to the right. See Tom Marinez's page for a nice representation.
Excerpt from APOD: The Pipe Nebula (also known as Barnard 59, 65–67, and 78) is a dark nebula in the Ophiuchus constellation and a part of the Dark Horse Nebula. It is a large but readily apparent pipe shaped dust lane that obscures the Milky Way star clouds behind it. Clearly visible to the naked eye in the Southern United States under clear dark skies, but it is best viewed with 7x binoculars.
The nebula has two main parts: the Pipe Stem with an opacity of 6 which is composed of Barnard 59, 65, 66, and 67 (also known as LDN 1773) 300′ x 60′ RA: 17h 21m Dec: −27° 23′; and the Bowl of the Pipe with an opacity of 5 which is composed of Barnard 78 (also known as LDN 42) 200′ x 140′ RA: 17h 33m Dec: −26° 30′.
Nikon D810A Summer Milky Way Fixed TripodThis is from my "fixed tripod astrophotography" page which has details around the capture. You can see the Pipe Nebula in a broader context, as well as the Antares and Rho Ophiuchi area.
Pipe Nebula - Prime focus Barnard Objects here
Antares and Rho Ophiuchi Area
Dark Nebula Pictures
Copyright © by Dick Locke. All Rights Reserved.
Contact and Image Use Information
hits since 6/13/2003 update.
