Orion's Belt and Sword

CLICK HERE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION - (1950 x 1425)

Scope: Canon EF18-55 DSLR Lens at 55mm; Location: Dos Picos Park, Ramona, CA;  17 January, 2009; Camera: Canon XT 350D (Baader ACF modified)

Exposure: 10 x 8 min  (no filters) ISO 800, 8 Darks each, no Flats 

Processing: Images were captured with DSLR Focus  and saved as RAW file format. Images were decoded and dark corrected in IRIS. Images were aligned and stacked in IRIS with Sigma Median.  Dark point equalization and rough color balance  were done in IRIS. Gamma adjustments also done in Iris. The exposure stack was saved as Tiff.  Final stretching and touch up was done in PhotoShop.  With a star mask applied to preserve star color, the red channel was added back at 20 % to enhance the red and visibility of Barnard's loop. Image was cropped to show the region of interest Final Image size is approximately 1950 x 1425.

North is up in this image.  This image is unguided.  This is an image of the well known Orion's Belt and Sword. Several object are seen in the center of the image - the most prominent is the Orion Nebula.  This general region of nebulosity is  about 1,300 light years distant from Earth. What appears to be a faint red half circle around the Belt and Sword is known as Barnard's Loop. Horizontal FOV is about 18.5 degrees

Object Center is approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 05h 34m 53s Dec: -04°06'37"

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All images and content remain the property of Jim Thommes - copyright 2003 - 2012

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