Learn

      • Blog
      • Academy
      • About us
      • Forum

      Legal

      • Privacy Policy
      • Cookie Policy
      • Terms & Conditions

      Pricing

      • Plans

      Tutorials

      • All tutorials
      • Our tutors
      • Webinars

      Follow us

      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      Keyhole Nebula
      Wallpaper author:
      David Tonucci

      13 Jun 2026

      Keyhole Nebula

      The "Cosmic Keyhole" refers to NGC 1999, a reflection nebula located approximately 1,350 light-years away in the Orion constellation. Named for the mysterious, inky-black hole at its center, the void was originally thought to be a dense cloud of dust (a Bok globule) blocking background starlight.Follow-up observations with telescopes like the Herschel Space Observatory revealed it is not an object blocking light at all. Instead, it is a literal hole or cavity in space, believed to have been carved out by intense energetic jets of plasma expelled by a nearby newborn star

      Dataset from which the image was processed

      NGC 1999

      20 credit

      Open
      Bernard Miller
      T-17
      • Type of target
        ............................................................................................................................
        Emission Nebula
      • Camera
        ............................................................................................................................
        FLI Proline PL16803
      • Target coordinates
        ............................................................................................................................
        RA 84.1042 Dec 6.7
      • Hemisphere
        ............................................................................................................................
        Northern
      • Telescope location
        ............................................................................................................................
        United States of America
      • Transient event
        ............................................................................................................................
        No
      • Observed on
        ............................................................................................................................
        15 Nov 2022 - 21 Jan 2023
      Filter
      Avg Exp (s)
      Total Exposure
      Subframes
      Luminance342920h21
      Red257115h21
      Green270015h20
      Blue270015h20
      Halpha360020h20

      Keyhole Nebula