Reminiscent of “The Flying Dutchman” (de vliegender Hollander) – look for the blue sails and yellow hull/keel in this picture). This legendary ghost ship can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. Sightings in the 19th and 20th centuries reported the ship to be glowing with ghostly light. If hailed by another ship, the crew of the Flying Dutchman will try to send messages to land, or to people long dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom.

From my Bortle seven backyard in Melbourne, Australia
Processed with Astro Pixel Processor
Starnet ++
Topaz NR
Pro digital Starspikes 4.0
PS CC2022

IC 4628 in Narrowband
IC 4628 in Narrowband

Capture Details

TelescopeTakahashi TOA 130 with TOA-35 Reducer
CameraQSI 6162 WSG8
MountIOptron CEM70G
FiltersChroma RG&B, 5nm Ha & S2, 3nm O3
Guiding CameraStarlight Xpress Lodestar X2
Integration time (Exposure)20.0 hrs
LocationMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
DateMay, 2022

About this Nebula

South of Antares, in the tail of the nebula-rich constellation Scorpius, lies emission nebula IC 4628. Nearby hot, massive stars, millions of years young, irradiate the nebula with invisible ultraviolet light, stripping electrons from atoms. The electrons eventually recombine with the atoms to produce the visible nebular glow, dominated by the red emission of hydrogen. At an estimated distance of 6,000 light-years, the region shown is about 250 light-years across, spanning an area equivalent to four full moons in the sky. The nebula is also catalogued as gum 56 for Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum, but seafood-loving astronomers might know this cosmic cloud as The Prawn Nebula. (text from APOD)

“Who hath seen the Phantom Ship, Her lordly rise and lowly dip, Careering o’er the lonesome main, No port shall know her keel again.”
- Albert Pinkham Ryder