Sunday, January 4, 2009

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula





Pictured is: The Great Orion Nebula.

This deep space object is the brightest and most recognizable Nebula visible from Earth.

Here are a few facts about The Great Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 (M42):

* The nebula is located in the constellation Orion, specifically the Belt of Orion.

* It is located 1,270 light years from Earth and measures 24 light years across.

* The nebula is the nearest active star-forming region to our solar system.

* Orion is one of the most easily recognized constellations in the winter night sky.

* The Great Orion nebula is visible to the naked eye.

M42 is one of my favorite astrophotography targets, because even an amateur like me can produce a robust picture.

The picture is RAW and was not manupulated in software except to enhance brightness. Equipment used to produce the image included:

Orion (Celestron) 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector
Orion Atlas GoTo Mount (tracking via SkyScan)
Nikon D80 DSLR (Unmodified)
Sensitivity: ISO-500
Exposure: 85 Seconds

Check back in a couple of days for my next post which will include a whole series of Messier objects that I photographed recently.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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3 comments:

dakotas-nana said...

Hey Jim... here is my new blog... lost the password to the other one... Love you guys. Pat and Dave
http://grchans-in-sc.blogspot.com/

spartan-K said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Stunning picture. I also have a D80. Did you use noise reduction on the camera (high ISO and/or long exposure NR).