The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse is a large dark nebula, which as seen from Earth, obscures part of the upper central bulge of the Milky Way. The Dark Horse lies in the equatorial constellation Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer), near its borders with the more famous constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius. It is a significant, visible feature of the Milky Way’s Great Rift.
This region of dark nebulae is called Dark Horse because it resembles the side silhouette of a horse and appears dark as compared with the background glow of stars and star clouds. It is also known as “Great” because it is one of the largest (in apparent size) groups of dark nebulae in the sky.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Canon EF 85 mm f/1.2
Imaging cameras: Canon 60Da
Mounts: Celestron Advanced VX
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion 50mm Helical Guider
Guiding cameras: Orion Star Shoot autoguider
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Deep Sky Stacker
Dates: May 27, 2014
Frames: 16×300″
Integration: 1.3 hours
Darks: ~32
Flats: ~16
Bias: ~200

Author: Chad Quandt
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 05 June 2014