Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Flame Nebula  ·  IC 423  ·  IC 426  ·  IC 431  ·  IC 432  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  Orion B  ·  Part of the constellation Orion (Ori)  ·  The star 31Ori  ·  The star Alnilam (εOri)  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)  ·  The star Mintaka (δOri)  ·  The star σOri
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The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt, Alan Dyer
The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt
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The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt, Alan Dyer
The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt
Powered byPixInsight

The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt

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Description

This is the Belt of Orion with its three blue stars across the top of the frame (L to R: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka), with the iconic Horsehead Nebula (aka B33) below Alnitak, with the dark Horsehead set against the bright nebula IC 434, aka Orion’s Dagger. The pinkish nebula above Alnitak is NGC 2024, the Flame Nebula. The small blue reflection nebula left of the Horsehead is NGC 2023, with smaller IC 435 to the left of it. The field is filled with the large open cluster Collinder 70. The multiple star at bottom left of centre is Sigma Orionis. Many other smaller bits of reflection nebulas populate the field in and around the Belt.

This is a blend of 8 x 5-minute exposures at ISO 800 unfiltered with 6 x 10-minute exposures at ISO 1600 shot through an Optolong L-Enhance dual-band nebula enhancement filter (it lets through only Oxygen III blue-green and Hydrogen-alpha red to really enhance the nebulosity). The filtered shot is blended in with the unfiltered shot to retain the best of both worlds: the rich reds captured by the filtered images without losing the range of colours in the other nebulas such as the salmon pinks of the Flame and the blue reflection nebulas and stars.

All exposures with the Canon EOS Ra mirrorless camera through the SharpStar HNT150 Hyperbolic Newtonian Astrograph at f/2.8, from home on a very clear moonless night January 27, 2020. All stacked, aligned and blended in Photoshop 2020.

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The Horsehead Nebula and Orion's Belt, Alan Dyer

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Canadian Astrophotography