Ghost Man Dark Cloud

[MLParkinson (Murray)]

Here is a sequence of five LRGB images of dark clouds located in Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Scorpio. I captured the data from suburban Sydney during the recent run of clear nights in late July.

The first dark cloud projects from the base of the Pipe Nebula. It reminds me of a praying mantis or a scary hominid-like creature from a horror film.

Perhaps it should be known as the “Ghost Man Dark Cloud”.

Higher resolution versions are located here:

https://flic.kr/p/oPVNi3

Telvue NPis 127 mm refractor @ f/5.2 with QSI683wsg camera. Southern suburbs of Sydney.

[Regulus (Trevor)]

A nice collection of dirt there Murray and the high-res ones are great. Beautiful colour in the stars.
Trev

[RickS (Rick)]

Nice shots, Murray, especially if they were done from the suburbs!

[MLParkinson (Murray)]

Thanks guys. I'm getting better at defeating light pollution with good technique. A high quality monochrome astronomy camera with deep quantum wells helps a lot. Even so, these are relatively easy dark nebulas superimposed on bright Milky Way. A really dark sky is not critical for these targets, but it would help boost the impact. I'm a great fan of dark clouds - they are subtle mysterious objects.