Categories: Astrophotos

Astrophoto: Dramatic View of the Pipe Nebula

Image stack of Pipe Nebula Area as seen from the Pyrénées National Park in France. Credit and copyright: Martin Campbell.

This dramatic shot of the dark and shadowy Pipe Nebula has an Instagram-like feel to it. But astrophotographer Martin Campbell from France said on Flickr he has “no doubt that the pristine skies at 10,000 feet and the absence of light pollution makes it possible to produce images like this!” Campbell’s image is a two frame stack of two minute exposure time, stacked with darks and edited in Photoshop CS5. Images were taken in July 2012 in Pyrénées National Park in France. Campbell used a modified Canon 5D mkII DSLR and a Canon 85mm prime lens at F/4. Stunning!

The Pipe Nebula is part of the Ophiuchus dark cloud complex, and is also known as Barnard 59. It is located at a distance of about 600-700 light-years from Earth.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/