Witch Hunt for Orion

Captured over 2 nights from Grand Mesa Observatory, Purdy Mesa Colorado

using the full frame QHY367C one shot color CMOS camera on a Rokinon 135mm

F2 lens stopped down to F4. This is a 2 panel mosaic covering an area from

The Witch head Nebula IC 2118 in the upper left of the image to the Dark

Nebula LDN 1622 in the bottom right and it covers a whopping 15 degrees x

18.5 degrees of sky, big enough for the moon to fit over 550 times.

Total Integration time just over 4 hours

Image capture details

Terry Hancock downunderobservatory.com

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

Dates: December 10,18th 2017

RGB 119 x 1 min, 67 x 2 min

Camera: QHY367C

Gain 2850, Offset 76 with Dark Frames no Flat.

Optics: Rokinon 135mm F2 Telephoto Lens @ F4

Focusing: David Lane's Reveal Focus Filter

EQ Mount: Piggyback on 12" RC, Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL5

Pre Processed in Pixinsight

Post Processed in Photoshop

Dominating the night sky from December through March, the ancient

constellation Orion is one of the most famous star groups in the heavens.

Five thousand years ago, the ancient Sumerians imagined this group of stars

as their legendary hero Gilgamesh. The ancient Greeks associated these stars

with a mighty hunter adorned with belt and sword, holding a westward facing

shield in his left hand and an upraised club in his right. These stars were

even included in the fictional world of J.R.R. Tolkien where they were

called Menelvagor, the "Swordsman of the Sky".

Many of the brilliant blue-white stars that make the constellation Orion so

striking were formed in the last 5 to 8 million years, which makes them

quite young by astronomical standards. Some of these young stars are part of

the "Gould Belt", a tilted ring of bright stars nearly centered on our solar

system. The belt may have formed when a large cloud of gas from outside the

Milky Way smashed into the plane of our galaxy at a shallow angle and

compressed clouds of interstellar gas and dust, triggering the formation of

new stars.

Read more about Orion in our e-book "The Armchair Astronomer" it's cheaper

than a pint of Ale or a Gourmet Coffee

cosmicpursuits.com/astronomy-courses-and-e-books/armchair...