About image
The Orion Nebula (also known as M 42) is one of the brightest diffuse nebulae in the night sky, visible even to the naked eye as a non-stellar object south of the famous Orion Belt asterism in the constellation of the same name.
Located at a distance of about 1500 light years from Earth, it extends for about 24 light years and is the closest star forming region to the Solar System.
The Orion Nebula contains within it a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium and visible in the image at the center of the nebula.
It is a relatively young cluster, which formed directly inside the nebula; the five brightest stars in the cluster have a mass of the order of 15-30 solar masses, bound together in an area with a diameter of only 1.5 light-years, and are responsible for illuminating the surrounding nebula.
On the left of the image, the emission and reflection nebula M43 is clearly visible: the star inside it has variable luminosity between magnitudes 6.5 and 7.6 and it seems to be responsible for the excitation of its gases.
Technical data
Optic GSO RC12 Truss - Aperture
304mm, focal lenght 2432mm, f/8
Mount 10Micron GM2000 HPSII
Camera ZWO ASI 2600 MM Pro with filter wheel 7 positions
Filters Astrodon Gen2
E-Serie Tru-Balance 50mm unmounted LRGB
Guiding system ZWO OAG-L with guide camera ASI 174MM
Exposure details L 116x10" bin3 -15C
R 38x10" bin3 -15C
G 39x10" bin3 -15C
B 39x10" bin3 -15C
Gain 100
Total integration 38'40"
Acquisition Voyager, PHD2
Processing Pixinsight 1.8,
Photoshop CS5, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
SQM-L 21.05
Location Promiod (Aosta
Valley, Italy), own remote observatory
Date 18 October 2022, 10/13 February 2023