Barnard 59 is a dark nebula in Ophiuchus. It spans more than a degree of sky so four full moons would fit inside this image with a bit of room to spare. B59 is actually one of several nebulae that collectively make up the Pip Nebula that looks somewhat like a smoking tobacco pipe. B59 is around the “mouthpiece”. The Pipe Neubula is 5 degrees across making it an easy thing to see with the naked eye if one has dark enough skies and isn’t too far north.

Dark nebulae are interesting because they block the light behind them. Unlike emission nebulae that are very diffuse gas clouds, these are denser dust clouds and the block or at least redden the light coming through them. Professional astronomers can effectively see through the dust by using infrared or radio light.

This is 25h 25m of LRGB data. For all the technical details, see astrobin.