M42 - The Orion Nebula
M42 also known as "The Great Nebula in Orion" is one of the most viewed and photographed objects in the night sky.
M42, in the constellation of Orion is the brightest nebula in our sky and is visible to the naked eye as the middle fuzzy star-like object in Orion's Sword.
At its core is a nest of star birth activity, which excites the atoms in the surrounding hydrogen cloud to the point of luminescence.
To the immediate left in this image is a nearly circular emission nebula formation, known as M43, which is partially obscured by the dust and gas in M42.
The left-most object in this image is the reflection nebula NGC1977, also known as the Running Man Nebula because of its unique shape.
This group of objects is approximately 1500 light-years from Earth and about 30 light years across.
Image acquisition and processing information: (first image)
Date: December 19th, 2022
Telescope 1: Celestron Edge HD 14" telescope using a Hyperstar v4 lens (at F1.9)
Mount: Astro-Physics AP-1200 GTO CP3
Camera: ZWO ASI-6200 MM Pro monochrome camera (binned 2x2)
Guiding: Telescope: AstroTech AT72ED, Camera: ASI-120 MM mini monochrome guide camera
Exposures: 300 15-second luminance exposures using a IR/UV cut filter
Image acquisition and guiding: ASIAIR Plus
Telescope 2: Celestron C11 telescope using a Hyperstar v4 lens (at F1.9)
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Camera: ZWO ASI-2400 MC Pro one-shot-color camera
Guiding: Telescope: Orion 60mm with helical focuser, Camera: ASI-120 MM mini monochrome guide camera
Exposures: 400 5-second exposures using a IR/UV cut filter
Image acquisition and guiding: ASIAIR Plus
Image processing Software: PixInsight v. 1.8.9.1
Image acquisition and processing information: (second image)
Date: February 9th 2022 (62% waxing gibbous moon required narrow-band filters)
Telescope: Celestron Edge HD 14" telescope using a Hyperstar v4 lens (at F1.9)
Mount: Astro-Physics AP-1200 GTO CP3
Camera: ZWO ASI-6200 MM Pro monochrome camera equipped with a Baader UFC 2" Filter Slider
Image acquisition software: Sequence Generator Pro v. 3.0.3.169
Exposures: 1oo fifteen-second exposures binned 2x2 using an Ha narrowband filter and 100 fifteen-second exposures binned 2x2 using an OIII narrowband filter
Guiding: Unguided
Image processing Software: PixInsight v. 1.8.8.9
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