LDN 43 - Cosmic Bat Nebula

LDN 43 – Dark Cloud in Opiuchus.

355 subs at 60 seconds each – 200 ISO, Bortle 2 – 3

Total Data: 5 hours 55 minutes

Taken over two nights with Celestron Origin. 678C Camera

Chester Rd, Masterton, NZ.

Friday 17th and Saturday 18th July 2026

Stacked and processed in Siril

Using SyQon, Veralux and RC-Astro software

The Cosmic Bat Nebula (LDN 43) is a dark nebula located approximately 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. Stretching about 12 light years across, the elongated cloud of dust and gas is a stellar nursery. The bright regions in the nebula are dense gaseous knots in which young stars form.

LDN 43 was nicknamed the Cosmic Bat because the clouds of dark nebulosity resemble a flying bat. The designation LDN 43 comes from the Lynds Catalogue of Dark Nebulae, compiled by the American astronomer Beverly Turner Lynds in 1962 based on images obtained with the 48-inch Schmidt telescope as part of the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey.

Dark nebulae are cosmic objects that are dense enough to block the light of objects in the background. These interstellar clouds contain cold, dense interstellar dust grains that absorb the visible light from any background stars, emission or reflection nebulae, star clusters and galaxies.

constellation-guide.com