Orion Molecular Cloud, the brightest part. (David Elmore)

Orion Molecular Cloud, the brightest part.

This is a small portion of the huge Orion Molecular Cloud. This 3.5° by 5.4° field includes the brightest and most famous features, the Flame, Horse Head, Running Man, and Orion Nebulae.
Exposures are narrowband, Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen III, and Sulfur II. It is also extended dynamic range utilizing exposures of 30 seconds, 120 seconds, and 600 seconds. 30 seconds was almost short enough not to over expose the Orion Nebula. 600 seconds was plenty long to bring out the waves of emission over the entire field of view. 30 minutes at 20 seconds. 30 minutes at 120 seconds. 150 minutes at 600 seconds.

In the SHO it is interesting how much Oxygen III (blue) emission there is in the Orion Nebula, Hydrogen-alpha (green) in the Flame and everywhere, and Sulfur II (red) or Sulfur plus Oxygen (magenta) around the edges of the Running Man and in the small nebula below the Horse Head.

Original
Final
B

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Distribution of astrophotographers

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	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
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