Standoff at the Border – The Boogeyman meets Casper the Friendly Ghost

A badass apparition and a friendly spirit contemplate their strategies to determine the locals’ fates. This two-panel mosaic is a shot I've wanted to take for years. Finally, I had an opportunity, so I took it. On the left, there’s Lynds’ Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622, the Boogeyman. On the right, there's Messier 78 (M78), Casper the Friendly Ghost. They stare each other down over the wall of Barnard's Loop before some ultimate cosmic showdown.

The designation LDN 1622 for the Boogeyman Nebula comes from the Lynds’ Catalogue of Dark Nebulae (LDN). It was compiled by American astronomer Beverly Turner Lynds and published in 1962 with 1,802 entries. Dr. Lynds recently died in Portland, Oregon in October 2024 at the age of 95. Dark nebulas (also called absorption nebulas) are dense regions of molecular gas and dust that blocks light from passing though them. This gives them an inky black appearance.

The Boogeyman is located in the Orion constellation about 500 light years from our solar system. To us, it appears to float in a sea of red, ionized hydrogen gas just next to a huge formation called Barnard’s Loop (not pictured), which is probably closer to 1,400 light years away. I’ve previously shared a closeup image of the Boogeyman. There’s much more information on it there.

An old favorite of astrophotographers, Messier 78 (M78), sometimes called the Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula, is a bright reflection nebula in Orion approximately 1,600 light years away. It’s approximately three light years in breadth. Technically, only the central blue region is catalogued as M78—and it’s also catalogued as vdB 59. I’ve also previously posted closeups of Casper—here and here—and have gone into much greater detail on it in those shots.