This piggy back shot was taken on a cold night at Christmas time. I had just finished an exposure of a the galaxy M33 (that did not turn out), I slapped the camera on the back of the scope with a 50mm lens and got in the car to warm up for 5 or 10 minutes. There was frost on the scope when I took it down. I wonder if I had a natural cold camera going?

In the picture the Orion Nebula, M42, can be seen in the hunters sword. Below the left star in his three star belt is the Horse Head nebula. The large nebula that loops from the left of Orion and under the sword is called Bernards loop. The nebula near the left edge of the picture is the Rosette nebula. Note also the dark nebula that snakes around Betelgeuse, the red giant arm pit of Orion. There is also a large faint nebula in his head. Could that be more of Bernards loop?

Ignore that horizontal banding that passes through the belt, it came from the scanning process. I consider the banding a little thing when compared to the overall quality that the slide scanner provides. It shows up on many of my pictures.

| Home Page | Astronomical Pictures | Astrophotography Methods | Beginning Astronomy | | Plan your observing session | Science and Religion | Meteor page | Fractal images | Links |