⭐ M42: The Great Orion Nebula

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Image © 2022 — 2023 Jeremy Likness. All rights reserved.
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Image © 2022 — 2023 Jeremy Likness. All rights reserved.
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Image © 2022 — 2023 Jeremy Likness. All rights reserved.
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Image © 2022 — 2023 Jeremy Likness. All rights reserved.
A detailed stack of eight different sessions to produce a detailed portrait of one of the largest, brightest, and most intricately detailed nebulae.
⭐ This photograph is part of our signature series.

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Telescope:   Stellina
Length:   400mm
Aperture:   80mm
F-stop:   f/5.0
Sessions:   8
Captured:   2021-03-04 to 2022-08-23
Lights:   1154
Exposure:   10
Total exposure:   3 h
Ra:   5h 35m 2.9s
Dec:   -5° 29' 53.328
Size:   52.659 x 38.169 arcmin
Radius:   0.542 deg
Scale:   0.619 arcsec/pixel
Related images
A stack of over 800 exposures to grab as much detail as possible.
This image was rendered from nearly 600 10-second exposures collected over a year.
Orion's sword contains multiple nebulae as evidenced in this wide field mirrorless camera shot.
This popular nebula is bright, easy to photograph and visible to the naked eye.
It's a popular target, but it never gets old. Although I've visited the Great Orion Nebula (M42) and de Mairan's Nebula (M43) many times before, I believe this is my most detailed capture yet. The data is from two sessions with Stellina taken exactly one year apart on March 4th, 2021, and 2022. I sifted by hand through over 700 10-second captures to cull it down to around 560 of the 'cleanest', stacked it in AstroPixel Processor and processed it in PixInsight.
First long exposure using my CGEM-II mount.
The Running Man Nebula (NGC1977), De Mairan's Nebula (M42) and the Great Orion Nebula (M43) are beautiful on their own. That beauty stands out in contrast when you witness the wider field of view that contains all three Nebulae on the glowing tip of Orion's sword. This is a mosaic of all three with 400mm exposures from Stellina.
The purple running man hangs suspended above the red-cloaked Great Orion Nebulae. M42, M43, and NGC1977 together in the same frame!
The Orion constellation is easily recognizable by the bright red Betelgeuse 'shoulder', three stars to form the 'belt' and a sword tipped with a nebula visible to the naked eye.
This close-up of the sword in the Orion constellation actually captures x nebula and clusters, including the Great Orion Nebula, De Marain's Nebula, the Running Man Nebula, and the Lost Jewel of Orion.
A candid look at the Great Orion Nebula, relieved of stars and unburdened of color.
This bright area of the Orion constellation doesn't take many exposures to reveal the intricate details. This is just 10 3-minute exposures but it was enough.
I took another stab at processing the data for this beautiful area of the sky and was not disappointed!

Objects in frame:

41 Ori A 41 Ori C 41 Ori D 43 Ori Great Orion Nebula M42 M43 Mairan's Nebula NGC1976 NGC1982 Orion Nebula The star Mizan Batil II (θ2 Ori) The star Trapezium (θ1 Ori A) The star θ1 Ori C The star θ1 Ori D
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M42: The Orion Nebula in rich detail »