20211122 - IC434 / B33 / Sh2-277 Orion region, Horse’s head and Flame Nebula - First pass
What’s in the picture(s)
IC 434 / B 33 ORI Horsehead Nebula -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsehead_NebulaQuote “IC
434 is a bright
emission nebula in the constellation
Orion. It was discovered on February 1, 1786 by
William Herschel. The
Horsehead Nebula is a
dark nebula silhouetted against it.
The
Horsehead Nebula (also known as
Barnard 33) is a small
dark nebula in the constellation
Orion. It 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. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming
H II region called
IC 434.
The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1,375
light-years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a
horse's head”
The
Flame Nebula, designated as
NGC 2024 and
Sh2-277, is an
emission nebula in the constellation
Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500
light-years away.
The bright star
Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the
Belt of Orion, shines energetic
ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the
great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine”
What was the experience
My first real pass at everyone’s favourite object. Not ideal circumstances, hampered by a close-by full moon 94%(-) and a Misty haze in the sky, which had already caused havoc on the other imaging I captured that night (IC342 Hidden Galaxy). But, given the cloud-cover and rain for the past weeks and the foreseeable future, you need to take advantage of whatever bleak opportunity that presents itself.
How it was done
Scope: TS-140 APO (FL 910mm)
Mount: CEM70G
Camera: ASI2600MM Pro
Filters: Baader LRGB 2”
Photons: 120s LRGB 19x 19x 24x 8x
Darks/Flats/Bias - Bortle 5/6
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
What have I learned from this
Similar to my Hidden Galaxy data, the haze and the moon caused me to throw out about half of my subs, especially the blue channel was seriously affected, the haze flooding the blue channel, salvaged what I could, but still causing this blueish hue in the image and around Alnitak. Couldn’t take more subs because of the clouds coming in, didn’t want to wait for another clear night, given the weather forecast. I could’ve cropped the image, to hide some of the blue hue, but ‘never waste a photon’. So this is “as good as it gets” … for now 😉
Constructive guidance is always welcome and appreciated, if it helps me improve my imaging routine and processing skills …
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
Follow me @astrowaut
Astrobin:
https://www.astrobin.com/users/WCA65/
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