Laughing Skull Nebula LBN 406

About This Image

This is one image that I am very proud. Captured over 3 nights from May 14 to 16, 2026. LBN 406, sometimes called “Laughing Skull Nebula”, is a faint, high-galactic-latitude molecular cloud in Draco, located approximately 2,600 light-years away. It belongs to the MBM 41–44 complex — the "Draco Cloud" — a group of diffuse clouds situated well above the galactic plane. Unlike emission or reflection nebulae powered by nearby stars, LBN 406 is an integrated flux nebula: its dust grains are illuminated by the diffuse, combined light of the Milky Way's stellar population, producing a low-surface-brightness glow that requires deep broadband imaging to recover. Captured over 3 nights from May