Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  41 Ori A)  ·  41 Ori C  ·  41 Ori D  ·  43 Ori)  ·  Great Orion Nebula  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  Mairan's Nebula  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1982  ·  Orion Nebula  ·  The star Mizan Batil II (θ2 Ori  ·  The star Trapezium (θ1 Ori A  ·  The star θ1 Ori C  ·  The star θ1 Ori D
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Orion Nebula in near IR, Tom Bash
Orion Nebula in near IR
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Orion Nebula in near IR

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Orion Nebula in near IR, Tom Bash
Orion Nebula in near IR
Powered byPixInsight

Orion Nebula in near IR

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This image is M42, the Orion Nebula, shot through a near-IR filter that I usually use for lunar and planetary imaging.  I was curious to see how well near-IR imaging could penetrate gas and dust in star forming nebula regions.  Surprisingly, very well, considering the rather short exposure time.  I will have to try this in the future with other well known star forming regions, such as M8, M16, M17, and others.

The nebula visible in this image is not from the ionized gases seen in visible light, like the RGB image presented here and imaged the same night.  Those wavelengths of light are completely blocked by the near-IR filter, so the nebulosity seen in this image may be from scattered light off of dust in the nebula, or emitted by different ionized atoms, or may be a result of both mechanisms.

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Orion Nebula in near IR, Tom Bash

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