Pareidolia is the perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images, especially faces, in random or accidental arrangements of shapes and lines. When you see a cloud that looks like a dog, you are experiencing pareidolia. Astronomers have long experienced pareidolia when they look at the night sky.
The ancient astronomers saw star pattens resembling bears, lions and hunters and named the constellations after these fanciful images. The later invention of the telescope and the camera opened an entirely new universe of objects for astronomers to marvel at, to study, and to unleash their pareidolia on. In this Halloween season, we present some images of astronomical objects photographed by MAS members.
The Scary Face Nebula
Also known as SH2-54 or NGC6604 and nicknamed “The Scary Face Nebula” because the bright white area in the upper left third of the photo resembles a scary face.
SH2-54 is an emission nebula, a cloud of interstellar gas and dust that emits its own light when a nearby star’s ultraviolet radiation energizes the gas, causing it to ionize and glow. In this photo, red indicates the presence of ionized sulfur, green represents ionized hydrogen, and blue represents ionized oxygen, with the yellow, purple, and orange colors caused by varying mixtures of these three gases. It is located approximately 6200 light-years from Earth, so the light from this image began its journey when humanity was entering the early Bronze Age and early writing was being developed. This nebula is an active star-forming region, containing more than 100 very hot stars that are only about 4-5 million years old. In human terms, an average star that is five million year-old has existed for the same fraction of its lifespan as a two-day-old human infant.
Photographer: Steven Lohr
The Phantom Galaxy
Also known as Messier-74 (M-74) and NGC 628. It is nicknamed “The Phantom Galaxy” not because it resembles a ghost, but because it is very dim, making it one of the most difficult Messier objects to observe. M-74 is classified as an “unbarred spiral galaxy.” This image shows its two spiral arms emanating from the central bright core. The slightly pinkish areas of the spiral arms are nebula regions where stars are forming, much like the “Scary Face” nebula above.
M-74 is located about 32 million light-years from Earth and is about 85,300 light-years in diameter with a total mass of about 300 billion solar masses, containing about 100 billion stars. In comparison, while our Milky Way galaxy is similar in diameter, being about 87,000 light-years across, it is much more massive, weighing in at 1.5 trillion solar masses. This increased mass is due to a halo of “dark matter “surrounding our galaxy.
Photographer: Steven Lohr
The Skull Nebula
Also known as the Rosetta Nebula, SH2-275 or Caldwell 49 (C49). Like the Scary Face nebula above, SH2-275 is an emission nebula —a cloud of interstellar gas and dust excited by nearby stars, which ionize and glow the gas. In the case of the Skull/Rosetta Nebula, there is an open cluster of stars in the center of this image in what appears as “left-eye socket” of the nebula. Two of the stars (HD 46223 and HD 46150) in this cluster are extremely hot and large, estimated at 400,000 to 450,000 times brighter and 50-60 times more massive than our sun. The stellar winds from their intense radiation push the nebula’s gas and dust outwards, creating a shell of ionized, glowing gas that forms the “bubble” or “eye socket” of the nebula. This central region is also extremely hot. While the main body of the nebula is heated to around 17,540° F, in this central region, the temperature rises to as high as 17,999,540° F. It is an active star-forming region, with approximately 2500 young stars of 2-4 million years old residing within the nebula. Right next to this extremely hot region are areas known as “Bok globules.” In this image, you can see some near where the “left eyebrow” of the skull would be. These are dense clumps of gases and some dust and are the precursors to a protostar. This dense matter shields the hot and brilliant radiation from the nearby central core of the nebula, causing temperatures in the Bok globules to reach as low as -450° F.
In this photo, red indicates the presence of ionized sulfur, green represents ionized hydrogen, and blue represents ionized oxygen.
Photographer: Steven Lohr
The Witch Head Nebula
The Witch Head Nebula received its name because, as Monty Python once pointed out, it looks like one. Also known as IC 2118 and NGC 1909, it is a reflection nebula that is illuminated by light reflected from the nearby blue supergiant star Rigel. The bluish color of the nebula is caused not only by blue light emitted from Rigel, but also because the dust grains in the nebula reflect blue light more efficiently than red, similar to the process that causes earth’s sky to appear blue. IC2118 lies about 900 light-years from Earth, and is about 70 light-years in length. It may also be the remnant of an ancient supernova. Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of IC 2118, indicating the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. Some possible pre-main-sequence stars have were discovered deep within the nebula, around the “chin” and “lower jawline” in these images.
Photographer: Steven Lohr
Cosmic Bat Nebula
Also known as LDN 43, this nebula looks like a head-on view of a bat flying at the viewer. It is, in fact, a stellar nursery that is of great interest to astronomers studying star formation. Located 1400 light-years away, it spans twelve light-years in length. This is a “dark nebula”, a molecular cloud that is dense enough to block light from background stars. The nebula is lighted from inside by dense gaseous knots that have just formed young stars. Stars are born from cosmic dust and gas, which float freely in space until gravity forces them to bind together. One of the hidden newborn stars in this nebula, named RNO 91 is a pre-main sequence star, meaning that it has not yet started burning hydrogen in its core. Rather, its luminescence comes from gravitational contraction, compressing the star until critical mass is reached and it begins to fuse hydrogen. It is only about one million years old.
Photographer: Carol Santulis
Ghost of Cassiopeia
Also known as IC63, this is both an emission and a reflection nebula, located 550 light years from earth. The nebula is illuminated by the star Gamma Cassiopeiae, which is the bright star in the upper left-hand corner of this image. Gamma Cassiopeiae is an unusual star. It is large- nineteen times more massive and 65,000 times brighter than our Sun. It is also a variable star: blue-white variable star that is surrounded by a gaseous disc. This star is nineteen times more massive and 65,000 times brighter than our Sun. It also rotates at 970,000 miles per hour, over two hundred times faster than the Sun. This rotation ejects mass from the star into a disk surrounding the star, as well as causes it to vary in brightness. It also creates intense radiation. Despite being 3-4 light-years away from IC63, the radiation from Gamma Cassiopeiae is sufficient to excite the hydrogen atoms in IC63, causing it to glow red. This is evident from the pinkish hue around the ghost’s “head” in this image. The blueish color in the lower left portion of the nebula is caused by the reflection of light from Gamma Cassiopeiae. Thus, IC63 is both an emission and a reflection nebula. Observations of the nebula’s velocity show that different parts of the nebula are moving at different speeds, indicating that the intense radiation from Gamma Cassiopeiae is slowly ripping IC63 apart, and it will be gone in 500,000 years.
Photographer: Carol Santulis
Wizard Nebula
Also known as SH2-142, this emission nebula appears in photographs as a medieval wizard doing an incantation. Located 8,500 light years away, the Wizard Nebula lies in the Perseus Arm of our galaxy. The nebula is about 110 light years in diameter, Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 7380, a group of hot blue stars being born in the nebula. These stars are between 4-12 million years old and their radiation is ionizing the hydrogen gas in the nebula, causing it to glow. At least fourteen stars in the cluster are pre-main sequence stars that have not yet begun nuclear fusion.
Photographer: Arun Hegde
The Witch’s Broom Nebula
Also known as the Western Veil Nebula or NGC6960, this is a remnant of a supernova that exploded 15,000 years ago. It lies approximately 1,400 light years from earth, and spans about thirty-five light years in diameter.
Photographer: Carol Santulis
Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula (M78) and the Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622)
This wide view image shows three different types of nebulae: Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula (M78) aka NGC 2068 is a reflection nebula in the upper right. It is separated from the Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622), a dark nebula in the lower left. Separating them is “Barnard’s Loop,” an emission nebula. These nebulae are all part of the Orion molecular cloud complex, and are about 2500 light-years from earth.
Photographer: Carol Santulis
(collection compiled and edited by Steven Lohr, October, 2025)