Eerie shapes are part of this starry landscape and are reminiscent of some trick or treaters who visit our doorsteps each halloween. They are part of the cosmic dust cloud called The Ghost Nebula of Cepheus (vdb-141, Sh2-136). This rarely imaged reflection nebula lies 1,200 light-years away from us and houses a newly formed star within the dark Bok Globule on the right. One can see a conical outflow of dust and gas emanating from deep within the globule.

Image acquisition information:

Date: October, 2012
Location: Star-lodge Observatory, Ione, CA
Camera: SBIG STL 11000
Telescope: Planewave 12.5
LRGB: 370:70:70:70