Blue horsehead nebula

This beautiful nebula lies in the Rho Ophiuchi area, where the star Jabbah is the "eye" of the horse. This star is the source of the light in the nebula The nebula was a bit difficult to image, given its low brightness. Even with 4 hours of exposure, I needed to do some stretching and enhancements to pull it out of the background.

Tech details : Pentax K5, ISO640, William Optics Zenithstar 71mm 5-element flatfield apo, Mounted on an Skywatcher EQ6 guided by QHY5II and PHD. 24x10 min subs, 30 flats. Stacked in DSS, processed in FitsLiberator, PS and Irfanview.