Object: Orion's Sword
Date: 12/26/03
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor (f/5.6) piggyback on a Meade 10" LX200
Guiding: 208XT
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D) @ Prime Focus
Exposure: 6x5 min, 10x3 min, 4x30 sec (LPS filter) and 8x3 min (H-alpha filter) @ ISO-800
Processing: Raw images converted to 16bit TIFF, alignment, stacking (sigma clipped average), and red channel combined with H-alpha in ImagesPlus. Final levels and curves (color balance) were adjusted in Photoshop
Comments: This stellar nursery in the Constellation Orion is one of the most impressive sights for sky watchers in the Northern hemisphere. It's estimated to be about 30 light-years across and 1,500 light-years distant. Above the wing-like nebula M42 is a smaller almost circular emission nebula (M43) and although they appear attached, they are considered separate. Higher still, lies the blue reflection nebula NGC 1977 (The Running Man.)
© Dave Dockery 2004