NGC-1977, commonly called "The Running Man Nebula" is a reflection nebula located in the constellation of Orion, the Hunter. It lies just 1/2 degree NNE of the Great Nebula in Orion, M-42. Although it shows little detail visually through amateur telescopes, photographically it show a dark shadow of obscuring dust which slightly resembles a running human figure. The reflection nebula is illuminated by the intensely hot star 42 Orionis. This nebula lies approximately 1500 light years from Earth and is 15 light years in diameter. It was discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1786.
This image, acquired on November 8, 2015, is a 1 hour 30 minute integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera, operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.