Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  41 Ori A)  ·  41 Ori C  ·  41 Ori D  ·  42 Ori)  ·  43 Ori)  ·  44 Ori)  ·  Great Orion Nebula  ·  Lower Sword  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  Mairan's Nebula  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  NGC 1981  ·  NGC 1982  ·  Orion Nebula  ·  The star 45 Ori  ·  The star Hatysa (ι Ori  ·  The star Mizan Batil I (c Ori  ·  The star Mizan Batil II (θ2 Ori  ·  The star Trapezium (θ1 Ori A  ·  The star θ1 Ori C  ·  The star θ1 Ori D  ·  Upper Sword  ·  the Running Man Nebula
Messier M42 - NGC1976 - Orion Nebula & NGC1977 Running Man Nebula, Geoff Scott
Messier M42 - NGC1976 - Orion Nebula & NGC1977 Running Man Nebula
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Messier M42 - NGC1976 - Orion Nebula & NGC1977 Running Man Nebula

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The 'Great Orion Nebula', M42 or NGC1976, is located in the sword of Orion and is one of the brightest nebula in the sky, and perhaps the best known. It is a young star formation region with very hot high-UV stars ionising and 'lighting' the nebula.The brightness of these young stars make this an astrophotography challenge as the central regions are very bright in comparison to the tenous outer nebula and over exposure becomes a problem. High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques must be used to produce an image with a 'flattened' brightness range, more akin to the way the human eye perceives a wide range of brightness - not attempted here.

To the northeast (left as shown) of the Orion Nebula is the 'Running Man Nebula', NGC 1977, a blue reflection nebula, caused by reflected light on a dark non-ionised region of nebulosity.

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Messier M42 - NGC1976 - Orion Nebula & NGC1977 Running Man Nebula, Geoff Scott