Monday 3 December 2012

ORION IN BLACK & WHITE

As the title suggest, the image below is M42 Orion Nebula M42 processed in black & white.

My reason for the B&W was so the structure rather than the Colour would be the main focus of the image.

You can also see M43 underneath the Orion Nebula.

click to enlarge

Sunday 2 December 2012

A NIGHT OUT WITH ORION

Saturday night proved to be a long one. I didn't get into bed until 06.00hrs on Sunday morning.

The sky was clear and the air was cold (down to -5 degrees) which is ideal for stargazing.

I set up the scope on Saturday afternoon and wired it up to my laptop which was in my conservatory.

click to enlarge

During the night various targets were aquired but my main target was thr Orion Nebula (M42). I had to wait until about 02.00hrs before it was in the ideal location for me to image it.

The Orion Nebula is part of a much larger Nebula called the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. This Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, The Horsehead Nebula, M42, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in infrared.

The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. It is basically a Nursery for baby stars.

click to enlarge