Lynds’ Dark Nebula 673 in Aquilla | Mayall Telescope

Lynds’ Dark Nebula 673 in Aquilla | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. LDN 673 is part of a giant cloud of dust and gas in the constellation of Aquilla. This dark nebula is at a distance of about 600 light years. It is fragmented into many pieces, inside of which are forming stars. Some of these stars are illuminating parts of the nebula, such as in the upper-left and upper-right corners. The image was generated with observations in B (blue), V (cyan), I (orange) and H-alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is left, East is down.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time.

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

Release Date: June 30, 2020

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