Probably one of the most photographed nebula in the northern night sky, the Orion Nebula, Messier 42, is an astrophotographer’s dream. Here it is photographed with the Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977). It is the brightest nebula in the northern hemisphere with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. The bright centre of the nebula, a region of intense star formation, is the middle star of “Orion’s sword”. The nebula is approximately 1344 ly from earth. This particular interpretation combines hydrogen-alpha (red), sulphur-II (yellow) and oxygen-III (blue) emission data, with a heavily reduced star field. Fine wisps of dust mark the surrounding area, here they have been enhanced and incorporated into the final composition.
Celestron RASA 11″
10Micron GM1000 HPS
SIGMA fp L (monochrome)
H-alpha and S-II ultra-fast narrowband filters
ca. 3.5 hrs, ISO 1600, F2.2, 620mm