Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  50 zet Ori  ·  Alnitak  ·  B33  ·  Flame Nebula  ·  Horsehead nebula  ·  IC 434  ·  IC 435  ·  NGC 2023  ·  NGC 2024  ·  Orion B  ·  Sh2-277  ·  The star Alnitak (ζOri)
The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Ha and OIII, Stuart Stakoff
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The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Ha and OIII

The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Ha and OIII, Stuart Stakoff
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The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Ha and OIII

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The Flame Nebula (NGC-2024) is an emission nebula. The star Alnitak shines high energy ultraviolet light into hydrogen gas that makes up the flame. This energy ionizes the hydrogen, causing it to lose an electron. The glow you see here is the result of the electrons recombining with the ionized hydrogen. There is also a dark nebula region at the center of the flame (more on dark nebulae below).

The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is a dark nebula - a very dense cloud of dust and gas that obscures light coming from objects behind it.

Both of the nebulae are about 900 -1500 light years from earth. They can be found in the Orion Constellation, very near the star Alnitak. This star is the easternmost star in Orion's belt. The image is comprised of 50 light frames, each exposed for 3 minutes, 49 flats, 50 darks and a superbias. An STC Astro Duo-Narrowband filter was used to isolate the Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) and Oxygen III (OIII) wavelengths.

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The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Ha and OIII, Stuart Stakoff