David_Pickles
The Horsehead Nebula (B33) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024)
The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion and is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused by thick dust blocking the light of stars behind it. To the left of this image is the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). The bright star at the top is Alnitak , the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, that shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the centre of the glowing gas.
This image was captured using a QHY8L camera attached to a Sky-Watcher Explorer 190MN Pro. It is the result of 10 x 300s and 3 x 600s images, captured and stacked using Nebulosity 3 and processed in Photoshop CS6.
The Horsehead Nebula (B33) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024)
The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion and is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused by thick dust blocking the light of stars behind it. To the left of this image is the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). The bright star at the top is Alnitak , the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, that shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the centre of the glowing gas.
This image was captured using a QHY8L camera attached to a Sky-Watcher Explorer 190MN Pro. It is the result of 10 x 300s and 3 x 600s images, captured and stacked using Nebulosity 3 and processed in Photoshop CS6.