The Horsehead Nebula (A.K.A. Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming on a photographic plate taken at the Harvard College Observatory. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head.

The dark cloud of dust and gas is a region in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex where star formation is taking place. This nebula is prominent in the winter evening sky in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer evening sky in the Southern Hemisphere. This stellar nursery contains over 100 known kinds of organic and inorganic gases as well as dust; some of the latter is made up of large and complex organic molecules.

The red color originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orion. Magnetic fields channel the gases leaving the nebula into streams, shown as streaks in the background glow. A glowing strip of hydrogen gas marks the edge of the massive cloud. [Source: Wikipedia]


CAPTURE Information:  This is a Two-Panel Mosaic.
The image was captured with the iOptron CEM120 mount, the venerable Meade 12"LX200 SCT, and my QHYCCD QHY294m Pro mono CMOS camera at F7.16 (2182mm FL). 
Image subs were taken through Astronomik's narrowband filters of Ha, and broadband filters RED, GRN and BLU.

IMAGE information -- 2022 and 2023
The following is a breakdown of each panel (i.e. panel 1 and panel 2 respectively).
Ha :    30 and 30 subs (2.50 and 2.50hr) on Dec 27th, Jan 8th.
RED : 30 and 30 subs (2.50 and 2.50hr) on Jan 8th, Jan 9th, 10th and 12th.
GRN : 30 and 30 subs (2.50 and 2.50hr) on Jan 9th  and 12th.
BLU :  30 and 21 subs (2.50 and 1.75hr) on Jan 9th, 10th and 12th.

All exposures were at 5 minutes (300s) each, 1600 gain, 56 offset, 1x1 bin and -10C.

Each two panels of Ha, R, G and B were individually integrated.  The color panels were then combined using PixiInsight’s “ChannelCombination”.
This was then combined with the Ha panel using PixInsight’s “LRGBCombination”.

Processing was done with PixInsight, following (for the most part) kayronjm's tutorial of Feb. 24th from several years back.

 COMMENTS: 
The edge of the blue bubble that shows up on the left of the image is caused by the phenomenally bright star Alnitak, located off the field of view.  
The blue rays emanating from the same location and pointing towards the horsehead are also compliments of that star.  
My limited skills in processing were unable to remove these features.  

This is the 3rd time I’ve run at this target.  The first was in 2011 with my Meade 12”LX200 fork mount, my TMB80SS refractor and my Canon EOS450 (mod) color DSLR.  It came out quite well in my opinion. 
The second was in 2019 with my de-forked Meade 12”LX200 OTA mounted to my iOptron CEM120 mount, using the Atik 383L+mono CCD camera.
This time we’re on the iOptron CEM120 using the QHY294 pro mono cmos camera.  And this is the only one done as a mosaic.

ONE LAST THING:
My previous postings cover the saga of the CEM120 iOptron mount going back to the Massachusetts service center twice for problematic tracking.  
As described, I loosened the RA drive belt and things have improved measurably.  
This particular target lost no subs as a result of RA excursions.
I have yet to hear back from iOptron since the update on the drive belt adjustment.