ScopeHut Observatory

First complete image from Starfront Remote Observatory

I’ve now been at the Starfront Remote Observatory for just over a month. Unfortunately, the Texas rainy season hasn’t been very cooperative—I’ve only managed to get 7 or 8 nights of imaging in the entire month. Still, that’s an improvement over my setup at home, where I’ve only been able to roll the roof off for about four nights.
Eager to experience the true advantages of a dark sky site, I decided to focus on a dark nebula—an object I simply couldn’t capture from home due to light pollution.

This image shows LDN 1251, also known as the “Rotten Fish Nebula,” a dark nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. LDN stands for Lynds’ Dark Nebula, referencing its entry in the Lynds Catalogue of Dark Nebulae. The nebula is a dusty molecular cloud composed of dark structures and faintly glowing or reflecting dust and gas, making it a striking and complex object in astrophotography.
LDN 1251 is situated about 1,000 light-years from Earth and is part of a larger complex of bright and dark nebulae in this region of the sky. The nebula’s dark appearance is due to dense interstellar dust blocking the light from background stars. Within and around the nebula, several galaxies are visible in the background, notably PGC69472 and PGC166755. The region also features numerous Herbig-Haro objects, which are small patches of nebulosity associated with newly formed stars.
The image captures a wide field of view, revealing not only the intricate, wispy structure of the nebula but also the surrounding star field and faint galactic features. The overall appearance, with its elongated, slightly curved central dark lane and surrounding faint glow, gives rise to the nebula’s nickname due to its resemblance to a fish.