Blue Supergiant Star Rigel and The Witch Head Nebula
Does the blue nebula look like the head of a witch?
The nebula (right from image center) is known popularly as the Witch Head Nebula because, it is said, the nebula's shape resembles a Halloween-style caricature of a witch's head. Exactly how, though, can be a topic of imaginative speculation. What is clear is that IC 2118 is about 50 light-years across and made of gas and dust that points to—because it has been partly eroded by—the nearby star Rigel. One of the brighter stars in the constellation Orion, Rigel lies just below the center of the image. Rigel is a blue supergiant star. The blue color of the Witch Head Nebula and is produced by Rigel's intense blue starlight and from dust grains scattering blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in planet Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.
Authors & Editors: Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Technological University (MTU)
Date: Nov. 9, 2026
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Rigel #Nebulae #IC2118 #WitchHeadNebula #EridanusConstellation #OrionConstellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotographers #PiotrCzerski #Astrophotography #NASAGoddard #MTU #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD
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