Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118)

IC 2118 is an extremely faint reflection nebula illuminated by Rigel, spanning nearly 50 light-years and lying ~900 light-years from Earth. It emits no light of its own; what’s visible here is starlight scattered by interstellar dust.

This image represents 70 hours of total integration, pushed specifically to preserve the nebula’s native environment. The blue reflection dust is shown embedded within faint surrounding hydrogen emission and galactic cirrus — not isolated or cosmetically suppressed, but kept in context as physically present structures.

The goal was restraint: prioritize real signal, continuity, and scale over aggressive background cleanup or color separation. The result reflects how this region actually exists rather than how it’s often simplified.