The Witch Head Nebula

IC 2118 is an evocatively-shaped gas cloud lurking in the rather obscure constellation of Eridanus but usually associated with the splendor or Orion. Long exposures show the cloud to have the features of an old crone, hence its popular title of the Witch Head.

The Witch Head is a reflection nebula, meaning that it emits no light of its own but shines by reflecting light from the nearby blue Supergiant, Rigel. This picture is a two pane mosaic covering an area of sky approximately 5 x 3.5 degrees. Over 9 nights in December 2011 and January 2012, I obtained 13 hours of Luminance, and 15 hours of Red, Green, and Blue filtered subs giving a total exposure of 27 hours for the 2 panes.

This photograph was "Picture of the Month" in the April 2012 edition of the "Astronomy Now" magazine.

Note: All our prints are printed on Baryta 325g Paper, which is an excellent paper for framing. The paper is a gloss type, which gives very vivid colour views.