M78 in RGB (Mau_Bard)

M78 in RGB

This is one of my first recordings with my 200mm f/5 Newtonian, made on the nights of 28 February, 6 and 7 March 2021. At that time, notwithstanding the effort infused into it, I was not able to get a satisfactory result, therefore I never published it. I have completely reprocessed it now, after two years, with the help of better tools and with a bit more experience.

My favorite place in this image is the dark nebula south of M78: a stellar nursery hosting a quantity of young stellar objects (YSO), Herbig Haro and T Tauri stars.

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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 includes NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071, all visible in the picture here. This group belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude. These two B-type stars, HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light.

The M78 cloud contains a cluster of stars that is visible in the infrared. Due to gravity, the molecular gas in the nebula has fragmented into a hierarchy of clumps, whose cores have masses ranging from 0.3 M☉ to 5 M☉. About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation, are members as well. Similarly, 17 Herbig–Haro objects are known in M78.

Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
Austria Astrophotography
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7106066
PixInsight job	QGV5XHN6MXBQAXHXPMF4ZQTNSHIWMMXI
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h46m44s.930
RA (top/left)	05h49m23s.374
RA (top/right)	05h44m05s.260
RA (bottom/right)	05h44m06s.454
RA (bottom/left)	05h49m24s.630

Dec (center)	+00°04′40″.56
Dec (top/left)	+00°31′21″.99
Dec (top/right)	+00°30′54″.50
Dec (bottom/right)	-00°22′02″.11
Dec (bottom/left)	-00°21′31″.60

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M78 in RGB

M78 in RGB

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M78 in RGB

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