Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Great Nebula in Orion  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  NGC 1981  ·  NGC 1982  ·  NGC 1999  ·  The star 42Ori  ·  The star 45Ori  ·  The star θ1Ori  ·  The star θ2Ori  ·  The star ιOri
Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band, Tyco
Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band
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Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band

Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band, Tyco
Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band
Powered byPixInsight

Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band

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Description

This image shows an original view of the Orion M42 Great Nebula in the infrared band (642 - 1000 nm).

I used a quite original setup to shot this image :

* High pass cheap IR planetary filters : (642 - 842 nm, 742 - 1000 nm, 850 - 1000 nm)

* A non antiblooming ST8XME CCD camera (KAF1603ME Kodak sensor)

* A small but fast refractor : Stellarvue 60EDS F/D = 5.5 + 0.79 reducing filter (to prevent blooming)

* Therefore, short exposures to prevent blooming but no HDR processing (642 - 842 : 170*30 sec, 742 -1000 : 40 * 30 sec, 850 - 1000 nm : 60 * 60 sec)

* Combinations between filters to compute B : 642 - 742 nm, V : 742 - 850 nm, R : 850 - 1000 nm)

* Colour balance on K stars (ie O to G stars are blue, K are white, M are red)

* Processing with IRIS and Photoshop softwares

--> This view brings out old red giant M stars, which normally appears dim in the visible band, are much more brillant in the infrared. These stars are surprinsingly very "red" in the infrared band, that is to say their temperature should be around 3000K only.

Halpha (and SII) are captured by the 642 - 842 nm filter, resulting in a bright blue color. But signal is present also in the other IR bands showing that M42 is a mix of an emission and reflection nebula.

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Orion M42 Great Nebula in the NIR infrared band, Tyco