This 1000 light-year distant Nebula, IC 2118, lies next to the blue super giant Rigel, in Constellation Eridan, right next to Orion, which means it is visible in winter at our northern latitudes. It is a very very big nebula, spanning on 3 square degrees in the sky, which is just as big as 6 full moons! Unfortunatly, it is extremely hard to spot in our visual instruments, just like the famous Horsehead Nebula, Barnard 33, and only looks as amazing in photographs.

Its blue hue comes from the star mentioned above, Rigel, which glows like 40 000 suns! However, the cloud looks more blue than the star itself: this is due to the microscopic dust particles that compose the witch head nebula, IC 2118. Dust particles don’t reflect light rays the same way everytime.

This Reflection nebula is without doubt one of the weirdest and stunning nebula in the whole sky, especially in these Halloween times…

See you next week for another nebula!
Clement