Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Great Nebula in Orion  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1982  ·  The star 42Ori  ·  The star 45Ori  ·  The star θ1Ori  ·  The star θ2Ori
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M42 under less than ideal conditions, Andrew Gray
M42 under less than ideal conditions
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M42 under less than ideal conditions

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M42 under less than ideal conditions, Andrew Gray
M42 under less than ideal conditions
Powered byPixInsight

M42 under less than ideal conditions

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Description

So far this year, the weather and work have beaten me when it comes to getting any decent images of the Orion Nebula, but one night I braved the cold and humidity to have a try at one of my favourite objects.

From where I was observing, M42 is partly hidden by trees until midnight, at which point it is totally obscured by a large tree trunk. After about one, it moves into the clear and would have been in an excellent position to shoot- except that it was so humid, my absolutely saturated dew heater band shorted out and the objective lens first fogged up and then froze!

As a result, the only pictures I got were from before midnight, shooting through tree branches which have left diffraction spikes on my images (I do have a refractor, honest!) Sky clarity was poor and focusing wasn't brilliant, but I'm happy with any picture over no picture!

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M42 under less than ideal conditions, Andrew Gray