Everybody remembers their “first time” … This was the first nebula that was targeted on our first tour, and I can say it was quite a moment, when, after everything was set-up for the first time, and the first shot was taken and the unmistakable silhouette of the Horsehead Nebula appeared on the screen – Two years of research and planning were, at last, coming to fruition. The Horsehead Nebula itself is Barnard 33, the designation IC 434 refers to the bright nebulosity behind the Horsehead. It is approximately 1500 ly from Earth with an apparent magnitude of 6.8. The nebula is located within the constellation of Orion with the bright star (Alnitak) being part of “Orion’s belt. The image is based on Ha ultra-fast narrowband data with a heavily reduced star field. It is a remarkable attribute of the RASA11, that despite the short integration time, a remarkable amount of detail has still been revealed in the horse’s head itself. To the left and below IC 434 is the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024).
Celestron RASA 11″
10Micron GM1000 HPS
SIGMA fp L (monochrome) / SIGMA TC2011
H-alpha ultra-fast narrowband filter
20 x 30 secs, ISO 1600, F4.4, 1240mm