M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976) (Charles Pevsner)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Orion (Ori) · Contains: 41 the01 Ori · 42 c Ori · 43 the02 Ori · 44 iot Ori · 45 Ori · De Mairan's nebula · Great Orion Nebula · Hatysa · IC 420 · LBN 963 · LBN 967 · LBN 974 · LBN 977 · LDN 1640 · Lower Sword · M 42 · M 43 · Mairan's Nebula · NGC 1973 · NGC 1975 · NGC 1976 · NGC 1977 · NGC 1980 · NGC 1981 · NGC 1982 · Orion Nebula · Sh2-279 · Sh2-281 · The star 42Ori · The star 45Ori · And 6 more.

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M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

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M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

I don’t remember where, but someone, posting an image of M42, wrote, “Does the world need yet another photograph of the Orion nebula?” The answer is clearly No, but on the other hand, isn’t it a rite of passage for anyone interested in doing astrophotography? And because of the high dynamic range, I didn’t find it an especially easy subject to process.

Because the internet is littered with images of M42 in RGB, I decided to image it narrowband to feature the clouds of molecular hydrogen. At least there aren’t quite so many narrowband images around.

You can just barely make out the four stars of the Trapezium cluster, Theta Orionis, at the heart of the nebula. (They are labeled Θ Ori A, B, C, and D in the overlay.) This cluster is among the youngest star clusters known, having lit up only 300,00 years to a million years ago. These four stars are jammed up against each other, being about only 1.5 light years apart. The cluster itself, however, which contains about 1000 stars, is about 4 light years across. Although the Trapezium cluster is one of only eight clusters in the overall nebular complex, its intense radiation accounts for the majority of the illumination of the surrounding clouds of gas.

The Orion Nebula is unusual in that it is both a reflection and emission nebula; the clouds of gases reflect light from nearby stars, and they also emit light because they are ionized by high-energy radiation (mostly ultraviolet light) from young, hot stars embedded in the clouds of gas.

The Orion Nebula is about 1,300 light years away and spans approximately 25 light years.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4681988
PixInsight job	A2NJ93NP2Q88O7ZS1ZEBZC60Z3LTS1W4
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h36m19s.49
RA (top/left)	05h32m00s.66
RA (top/right)	05h41m24s.26
RA (bottom/right)	05h40m36s.25
RA (bottom/left)	05h31m14s.58

Dec (center)	-05°09′19″.5
Dec (top/left)	-06°25′16″.6
Dec (top/right)	-06°13′30″.1
Dec (bottom/right)	-03°53′31″.4
Dec (bottom/left)	-04°05′00″.6

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M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

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M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

M42 the Orion Nebula (NGC 1976)

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