THE HORSEHEAD NEBULA (BARNARD 33) AND FLAME NEBULA (NGC 2024)
PLUS EMISSION NEBULA IC434, AND REFLECTION NEBULA NGC2023.
Nearly invisible visually, this dark nebula makes a fine imaging target. It is part of the huge complex of gas and dust clouds and star-forming regions in Orion.
The brightest star in these images is Zeta Orionis (Alnitak) which is visible to the naked eye as one of the 3 stars in Orion's belt.
This is a regular "LRGB" image taken 10/1/06 (click on image for larger size):
Here is a narrowband image taken 12/30/06, using the "Hubble Palette"
(SII=Red, H-Alpha=Green, OIII=Blue) (click on image for larger size):
Here is the same data, using the "CFHT Palette"
(H-Alpha=Red, OIII=Green, SII=Blue) (click on image for larger size):
Image acquisition and processing details for narrowband version:
| Telescope: | William Optics Zenithstar 105mm APO refractor, f/5.6 with 0.8 FR/FF. |
| Mount: | Celestron CGE, remotely controlled with NexRemote. |
| Camera: | SBIG ST-10XME cooled to -30C, internal guiding. |
| Filters, Exposure Times: | AstroDon Ha 17x20min, OIII 9x5min, SII 9x5min. Additional data was obtained but discarded. |
| Dates: | 12/30/06 and 12/31/06. |
| Moon Phase: | 85% on 12/30, 95% on 12/31/06. |
| Location: | Vail View Observatory, Vail, AZ and Xanadu Observatory, Backyard in Tucson, AZ |
| Software: | MaximDL, TheSky, CCDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop |
| Notes: | Image was cropped since the camera rotated a little when the scope was moved. During the night the temperature fell below the dew point and equipment became very wet and even developed an ice coating. |