M42, M43, and NGC 1977
by Vern on Jan.13, 2007, under Astronomy, Deep sky, Diffuse Nebula
The Orion nebula is the brightest nebula visible from Earth and is always a treat to visit in a scope of any size or binoculars. In this image, M42 is the bright butterfly shape surrounding the trapezium. Messier 43 is directly above M42. It appears as roundish neblosity surrounding star NU Orionis. Dark lanes can be seen extending southward toward M42. Toward the top center of the image, the shape of the running man can just barely be distinguished above 3 bright stars. With the naked eye these stars appear as a single star just above the Orion Nebua.
Images were taken with Stellarvue A1010 80mm refractor and Canon Xti camera. Camera was set at ASA 400 with separate exposures of 30 seconds and 120 seconds. The Stellarvue A1010 was mounted on a Losmandy rail on top of a Celestron Nexstar11. The Nexstar11 was guided using a Stellacam II video camera and PHD Guiding software. Sky was clear, no clouds, temperature was 37°F, transparency was very good, and turbulence was around 5/10 though sometimes a bit better.
January 13th, 2007 on 1:36 pm
…wow. Nice one.
January 14th, 2007 on 2:21 pm
With all or the snow that you have seen so far this season.I would have to say the trade off is really clear skies in between storms.We have had a really warm winter so far but,have paid for it with terrible skies.
I had the scope out last night for about 45 minutes but,the skies were too washed out to view much.On a brighter note,I figured out why my scope wasn’t aligning properly…..(I feel stupid)…I forgot to disable daylight savings time…hahahahahahaha!!!!.Congrats on the image!.Everytime I have the scope out,this time of year.I feel the need to image it.
Keep the images coming!!.
January 15th, 2007 on 9:14 pm
Thanks Rob and Andrew!
Our weekly snow storm on Thursday or Friday continues this week as well (we’ve had them for nearly a month now). Supposed to be clear tonight and tomorrow. Didn’t do much tonight other than look at M42 briefly. Transparency was not good. Hopefully tomorrow it be more transparent so I can get some shots of the horsehead.
January 17th, 2007 on 3:24 pm
Brillant Picture keep up the good work hope to see some more in the future.
mark_smith