Celestial

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula - Orion Constellation - Winter Sky

Artist: Brian Morganti

The Orion Nebula complex is undoubtedly one of the most famous and beautiful areas of the entire night sky. It is easily visible to the unaided eye from a dark location as a patch of brightness surrounding Theta Orionis, the middle star in the sword of Orion the Hunter, the constellation which dominates the winter night sky. Located about 1,350 light years away, the nebula glows red predominantly from the light of hydrogen gas excited by energetic newly formed stars in the heart of the nebula. It is the nearest star forming region to our own star, the Sun. Viewed through a small telescope the Orion Nebula displays a greenish hue, the vivid colors shown above can only be revealed by long exposure photography using specialized astronomical filters. To the left of the Orion Nebula is the blue reflection nebula known as the "Running Man Nebula"

I took this image over a period of two nights through a 4" APO refractor telescope attached with a modified Canon 6D-H designed for astro photography. Many exposures varying from a few seconds to several minutes had to be combined in order to not have the bright areas overblown or the darker areas devoid detail. A total of 149 minutes exposure time in all.

M42OrionNebulaMorgantiRunning Man NebulaAstro ImageOrionEmission NebulaReflection Nebula