Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Horsehead nebula  ·  IC 431  ·  IC 432  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)  ·  The star σOri
Flame and the Horsehead, Chuen Chung Chui
Flame and the Horsehead
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Flame and the Horsehead

Flame and the Horsehead, Chuen Chung Chui
Flame and the Horsehead
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Flame and the Horsehead

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Description

The modern night sky over urban areas is severely polluted by artificial lights, creating substantial skyglow which prohibits us to see the fainter stars with our own eyes. This poses great challenge to astrophotographers trying to capture deep sky objects in broadband spectrum. While using a light pollution filter may help, it is far from a perfect substitution for dark skies. Nonetheless, this does not mean that one will never get good images under the urban night skies. This image of the Horsehead Nebula, Flame Nebula and Alnitak was captured under a night sky graded 7 - 8 on the Bortle Scale, which indicates that the background skyglow is very severe, let alone additional local light pollution such as street lamps and car headlights. Despite the poor sky quality, with the help of a light pollution filter, special imaging technique and careful post processing, I was able to produce a rather pleasing image of this object. Of course, this is far from spectacular compared to one taken under rural skies (Bortle 3 or less) in which details in many of the fainter nebulosity can be better seen. But if getting access to a dark site is not practical, do not be put off by the light pollution but try doing astrophotography in your backyard anyway, as you never know what you can achieve from your urban backyard.

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  • Flame and the Horsehead, Chuen Chung Chui
    Original
  • Final
    Flame and the Horsehead, Chuen Chung Chui
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Flame and the Horsehead, Chuen Chung Chui