Looking through the Dark Cloud B68

B68 is a dark cloud situated at a distance of about 500 light-years (160 pc) towards the southern constellation Ophiuchus (The Serpent-holder). This is a false-colour, infrared composite photo of the dark cloud Barnard 68, obtained on March 8-9, 1999, with the SOFI instrument at the ESO 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla. Three exposures were made through J- (wavelength 1.25 µm - 3 min; here colour-coded as "blue"), H- (1.65 µm - 30 min; "green") and Ks-filters (2.16 µm - 30 min; "red"), respectively. The "reddening" of the background stars that are seen through the cloud is very obvious. It is due to the larger obscuration in shorter wavebands. The sky field measures about 4.9 x 4.9 arcmin 2 (1024x1024 pixels). A slight mismatch between the individual frames is present in the upper corners; this is caused by atmospheric effects. The pixel size is 0.29/arcsec. North is up and East is left.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso9934a
Type:Observation
Release date:2 July 1999
Related releases:eso9934
Size:3000 x 3008 px

About the Object

Name:B 68, Barnard 68
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Molecular Cloud
Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Bok Globule
Distance:500 light years
Constellation:Ophiuchus
Category:Nebulae

Image Formats

Large JPEG
2.8 MB
Screensize JPEG
525.9 KB

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Coordinates

Position (RA):17 22 38.21
Position (Dec):-23° 49' 34.93"
Field of view:4.87 x 4.89 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.1° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Infrared
J
1.25 μmNew Technology Telescope
SOFI
Infrared
H
1.65 μmNew Technology Telescope
SOFI
Infrared
K
2.16 μmNew Technology Telescope
SOFI