Wallpaper author:
Patrick Thompson
29 May 2026
Rotten Fish Nebula
This is Lynd's Dark Nebula 1251, known otherwise as the Rotten Fish Nebula. It is approximately 1,100 light years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus. The "fish" is a band of dark dust silhouetted against a bright background of hydrogen gas heated by the combined light of nearby stars.
The data for this image is from Telescope Live's T-23 telescope in Nerpio, Spain, processed by me. I'll be relying on Telescope Live for the next few months as I recover from lower back surgery.
Dataset from which the image was processed
LDN 1251 - Rotten Fish Nebula LRGB
10 credit
- Type of target............................................................................................................................Dark Nebula
- Camera............................................................................................................................PLAYER ONE MONO 571
- Target coordinates............................................................................................................................RA 339 Dec 75.2667
- Hemisphere............................................................................................................................Northern
- Telescope location............................................................................................................................Italy
- Transient event............................................................................................................................No
- Observed on............................................................................................................................31 Jul 2025 - 30 Aug 2025
Filter | Avg Exp (s) | Total Exposure | Subframes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luminance | 290 | 4h50m | 60 |
| Red | 300 | 4h55m | 59 |
| Green | 305 | 5h | 59 |
| Blue | 305 | 5h | 59 |