Orion Nebula M42 / M43 / NGC 1977

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW (2800 x 2150)

Scope: FSQ-106N at  f/5,  Blair Valley, Anza Borrego Desert, CA,  22 December 2011, Camera: ST8300M

Exposure: 20 x 5 minutes (1x1 bin), 8 x 1.5 minutes (1x1), 8 x 20 Seconds (1x1), and 6 x 5 seconds (1x1) UV/IR Block , 12 x 8 minutes Ha, 8 x 3 minutes (2x2), and 6 x 1.5 minute (1x1) RGB Exposures 

Processing: Images were captured with CCDSoft. Aligned/stacked and dark subtracted in Astroart ; Sigma Combine method was used for stacking subs.  All channels were scaled and rough color balanced in Astroart.   Channels were co-registered in Astroart.   All  UV/IR Block exposures  were  blended   along with the H-Alpha exposures for the main luminance construction. Nebula core area signal level is significantly attenuated with shorter exposures in order to avoid signal saturation. Level adjustments and curves were used to bring out object features.  Selective sharpening was applied to the Luminance construction. LRGB combine was done in Photoshop.   Final touches and color balance in Photoshop. Final Image size is approximately 3252x2532 (cropped and resized to 2800x2150).

North is to the left in this image. The Great Orion Nebula is one of the more well known objects in our Milky Way Galaxy - mainly due to its prominent display in the winter sky in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brighter areas of a giant  cloud of gas and dust covering about 10 degrees of sky. As a reference, this image covers about two degrees - this size is over 4 times that of the full moon. This image is actually three cataloged objects M42 - the Orion Nebula,  M43 - the little horned object in the center, and NGC 1977 - The Running Man Nebula on the left. These objects are a distance of about 1,600 light years from Earth. This image replaces an earlier image that can be seen in the Archives here.  The Horizontal FOV is 120'.

Image center is located approximately - Equatorial 2000: RA: 05h 35m 11.5s Dec: -05°16'57" 

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

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