NGC 2024 Flame Nebula, IC 434 & Barnard 33 Horsehead Nebula in Orion. 2022-12-16
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
I managed to extract this image from a series of 46 digital photos captured during an observing session on 16th December 2022.
It portrays the well known Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion.
Even in dark sky locations, it is not readily visible without a very large aperture telescope and certain narrow band filters. Long exposure photography is the best method to observe it but, even then, still quite challenging with light polluted skies.
Despite the low exposure times and a lack of very expensive processing software, I am quite surprised on the final outcome for such a difficult target. The diffraction spikes around the stars were already on the captured images and not added. I also had to crop the full frame image and it appears a little bit grainy, but I think it's still worth the effort.
The image is rotated in an approximate north - south alignment.
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian telescope with a Nikon D780 at prime focus. Tracked using an EQ6 Syntrek mount.
28 x 30s ISO 1600
9 x 25s ISO 2500
9 x 20s ISO 2000
18 dark frames & 18 flat frames
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Lightroom & GIMP.
Best viewed using the expansion arrows,
NGC 2024 Flame Nebula, IC 434 & Barnard 33 Horsehead Nebula in Orion. 2022-12-16
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
I managed to extract this image from a series of 46 digital photos captured during an observing session on 16th December 2022.
It portrays the well known Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion.
Even in dark sky locations, it is not readily visible without a very large aperture telescope and certain narrow band filters. Long exposure photography is the best method to observe it but, even then, still quite challenging with light polluted skies.
Despite the low exposure times and a lack of very expensive processing software, I am quite surprised on the final outcome for such a difficult target. The diffraction spikes around the stars were already on the captured images and not added. I also had to crop the full frame image and it appears a little bit grainy, but I think it's still worth the effort.
The image is rotated in an approximate north - south alignment.
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian telescope with a Nikon D780 at prime focus. Tracked using an EQ6 Syntrek mount.
28 x 30s ISO 1600
9 x 25s ISO 2500
9 x 20s ISO 2000
18 dark frames & 18 flat frames
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker, Adobe Lightroom & GIMP.
Best viewed using the expansion arrows,