IC 4592, the Blue Horsehead Nebula

IC 4592, the Blue Horsehead Nebula, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Scorpius. It has a distinctive horsehead shape. The blue color comes from dust reflecting blue light from nearby stars in the image. (APOD)

IC 4592 is part of a molecular cloud complex of fine dust associated with the Milky Way.

The two stars, center right, in the neck of the horsehead, below the ear, is IC 4601, another reflection nebula.

Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.

Imaging Details:

Observatory: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Yass, Australia

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED

Aperture: 106 mm (4.17 inches), f/3.6

Focal Length: 382 mm (with 0.73x focal reducer)

Camera: FLI ProLine PL16803 CCD

Filters: LRGB

Total Exposure: 9 hours 40 minutes

Image Processing: PixInsight 1.8.9-3 Ripley (x64);

BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);

Adobe Photoshop 25.12.1;

Adobe Lightroom Classic 14.2

Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.