M 78 Reflection Nebula (niteman1946)

M 78 Reflection Nebula

The nebula Messier 78 (also known as NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th magnitude. These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light.

About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation as well as some 17 Herbig-Haro objects are known in M78. [Source Wikipedia]

The image was captured with the Meade 12"LX200, using the Atik 383L+ mono at F7.16. Astronomik's LRGB filters were used. All subs were taken at 1x1 bin, -10C, and 10 minutes each.

Lum : 53 subs (8.83 hr) on Feb 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th.

Red : 16 subs (2.67 hr) on Feb 18th, 20th and 23rd.

Green : 13 subs (2.17 hr) on Feb 20th and 23rd.

Blue : 14 subs (2.33 hr) on Feb 20th and 23rd.

Processing was done with PixInsight, following (for the most part) kayronjm's tutorial of Feb. 24th. Only L was used to develop the Luminance image. R, G and B were collected for the color mix.

North is to the left (camera was rotated to capture more image), and this is a very slight crop. A close inspection of the stars shows elongation in the E/W (R.A.) direction. I will see if anything can be done. There is also a bit of raccoon eyes in the central stars.

Fairly pleased with the outcome. M78 is really a bit large for the 12"LX200 at f/7.16, but what the heck? The image is somewhat dark. I tried to add some more color subs to see if I can brighten it up, but to no avail.

Lastly, this is a mix of my using Images Plus (on Feb. 13th), and APT (the rest of the way) for camera control. I think I'll keep APT.

Final
Original
B

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Mix of multiple sources
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