M42 / The Orion Nebula Starless - a Work in Progress (Jay Hovnanian)

M42 / The Orion Nebula Starless - a Work in Progress

It's getting there ... from PS to PI and back to PS, and then again to PI -- you know what I mean. This intermediate version is a combination of various subs from last Fall and this Winter; starless and just waiting for its stars to soon return. Even so, this penultimate version showcases the incredibly vast cloudy region of dust and gasses hidden from most visual views, even under the darkest of skies. Our naked eyes see only the brightest nebulosity illuminated or excited by the light of adjacent stars.

The primary subs for this image were acquired at a private site in Wonalancet, New Hampshire in January, with "support" from subs of differing lengths and scale from North Fryeberg, Maine and Oakham, Massachusetts.

Processing was (and is being) done by/with @Terry Hancock of the Grand Mesa Observatory in Whitewater, Colorado (with me in the TeamViewer passenger seat observing and learning). Terry is a wellspring of knowledge, experience and accomplishment (which I someday hope to emulate ... at least in part).

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5528291
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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