The Blue Horsehead's Ear

IC 4601 is a well-known and frequently photographed reflection nebula in Scorpius, located in the region that visually forms the "ear" of the much larger Blue Horsehead Nebula (IC 4592). Its characteristic bluish glow is produced by starlight scattered by interstellar dust. Captured from Namibia, under African skies characterized by excellent darkness and atmospheric transparency. Despite the relatively short acquisition time, I was really impressed by the amount of faint dust and detail that emerged. I'm also making the master files available for free download on my website for anyone who would like to try processing the data.