Astrophotography
Dark nebulae
A dark nebula is a large cloud composed mainly of gas, especially hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of dust. This dust blocks and absorbs the light behind it, giving the cloud its dark appearance.
Adriano Alfaro
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This gallery is part of my astrophotography collection. Visit the main page to explore all categories, read insights and curiosities, and discover the equipment I use.
LDN 535 Dark Shark nebula
- Integration | 93 hours (IRCUT)
- Seestar Collective | 2026
- Telescopes | ZWO Seestar S50 e ZWO Seestar S30
- Drizzle | x1
The Dark Shark nebula — a huge complex of interstellar dust and faint reflection nebulosity in the constellation Cepheus.
Located roughly 650–1,200 light-years away, depending on the distance estimate, this region is made of cold dust clouds that block the light from the stars behind them. The dark shape near the center-left is what gives the nebula its nickname, resembling a shark swimming through space.
What makes this field so fascinating to me is that most of the structure is not defined by bright emission, but by the absence of light. The brownish dust, the dark filaments, and the faint bluish reflection nebulae all combine into a very subtle and almost surreal scene.
Galleries
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Nebulae
HII regions, emission and reflection nebulae, and supernova remnants.
Galaxies
Spiral, elliptical, irregular, and interacting galaxies.
Planetary nebulae
Shells of gas expelled by dying stars.
Open clusters
Groups of stars formed from the same molecular cloud.
Solar system
The Moon, Sun, planets, and comets.
Milky Way
The Milky Way, constellations, and wide regions of the sky.
Auroras
Luminous phenomena in Earth’s atmosphere.
Dark nebulae
Clouds of interstellar dust.
Globular clusters
Dense groups of stars.