A dark “E” carved into the Milky Way — Barnard 142, the Cosmic E Nebula

A cold shadow floating in front of millions of stars — this is Barnard 142, part of a dark nebula pair known as “the Cosmic E” in Aquila, about *2,000 light-years away.
These clouds of dust and molecular gas are so dense that they block the Milky Way’s starlight, creating a perfect letter “E” silhouette in the sky. Inside, hidden from view, new stars are quietly forming.

📸 FSQ-106EDX4 + SBIG STX-16803 CCD, Baader LRGB filters, 185 × 180 s L + 40 × 300 s RGB (≈ 23 h), 10Micron GM2000 mount. Captured from Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain.

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