NGC2024

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Images

A flaming Venus chases Orion to the horizon behind the Hornbeck Homestead in Florissant, Colorado.
Orion and Venus
The bright star Alnitak glows next to the brilliant orange Flame Nebula, NGC2024. Instead of the more popular framing with the Horsehead Nebula, I tried something different and framed it with M78, the dusty reflection nebula in the lower left. This is the result.
Fire and Ghosts
A clear 50mm snap of Orion at its height in the winter sky.
⭐ Orion 2023
Clear skies, a stable mount called the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi, 30 1-minute exposures with a Sony Alpha 6300 camera, and the fast 50mm manual focus f/1.4 lens by Samyang all conspired to bring you this image.
Orion exposed at 50mm
A clear wide-angle view of the predawn sky on Grand Cayman.
⭐ Clarity
A detailed exposure that illustrates the major stars and nebulae.
The Full Orion
A very tropical Orion rises above the palm trees on Grand Cayman.
The Tropical Orion
The scene of the horse and the flame has always been one of my favorites even as one of the most popular targets. It contains a bit of everything; dust and dark nebulae, reflection and emission nebulae, bright stars and brilliant colors. I grabbed some extra time on this target last night. Here's my latest incarnation.
⭐ The Horse and the Flame 2023
The Orion constellation.
The Orion Constellation (sans Betelgeuse)
A black and white rendering of the detailed nebulosity around Orion's belt.
⭐ Horse and Flame sans color
A combination of new images for the Flame and Horsehead nebulae.
Orion's Belt: Another Take
Beautiful and brilliant colors abound in the swirls of intergalactic dust lit by stellar jewels in the region of constellation Orion's belt.
⭐ Orion's jeweled belt at 336mm
This classic pairing of well-named nebulae Horsehead and Flame is one of my favorite regions in the night sky. It has a bit of everything, from a brilliantly shining star to bright tongues of heat blazing from the Flame Nebula, to the horse head's shadow casting a silhouette on billowing intergalactic dust. I'll keep improving my technique for this target!
⭐ The Horse and the Flame
First long exposure using my CGEM-II mount.
The many nebulae of Orion.
A capture of Orion's belt.
Orion's Belt
Took ~350 4-second 210mm of Orion's belt: Alnitak (with NGC2024 the Flame Nebula and IC434 the Horesehead Nebula), Alnilam and Mintaka. First pic of 2022!
Orion's Belt New Year 2022
This detailed photograph of the Orion constellation is rich nebulae. The Flame Nebula is on the left of the 'belt' and the Orion Nebula pops at the bottom of the 'sword'.
Detailed Orion with Flame Nebula and Orion Nebula
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.
Orion
The star ΞΆ Orionis (Alnitak) is the leftmost star on the constellation Orion's belt. It is a triple star system hosted by a blue supergiant. Next to it bursts the Flame Nebula, an emission nebular supercharged by ultraviolet rays emanating from Alnitak. Often grouped with the more iconic Horsehead Nebula (IC434), the Flame stands well on its own.
NGC2024: The Flame Nebula
IC434 illuminates the nearby Horsehead Nebula that rears its head in silhouette. Dominating left is the triple star system Alnitak with its main superhot blue giant centerpiece that adorns the undulating waves of NGC2024, the Flame Nebula.
IC434 NGC2024: The Horse and the Flame
The Easternmost jewel on Orion's belt is brilliant Alnitak, a bright star that bombards NGC 2024 The Flame Nebula with ultraviolet light, causing the gases to glow and form a brilliant orange flame. Nearby, a cloud of dust is illuminated from behind by emission nebula IC434 to create a strikingly horsehead-like silhouette.
The Horse and the Flame
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Blog Posts

A look back at the first year of my astrophotography with my favorite photos from 2021.
2021 in Retrospective and Favorite Photos
A full end-to-end processing workflow for my camera-only (no telescope) photos focused on PixInsight. Contains some advanced tips for rounding stars, stretching contrast, and making masks.
My Camera Processing Workflow with PixInsight
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Videos

A visual tour of Orion and nearby deep sky objects Aldebaran, Mars, and the Pleiades. From 12mm wide field shots of the night sky to 1645mm ultra close-ups of nebulae, this journey ties some of my favorite images together and shows just how interconnected objects in space can be. Includes shots of M42: the Great Orion Nebula, M43: de Mairan's Nebula, NGC1977 The Running Man Nebula, NGC2024 The Flame Nebula, NGC2023, IC434 The Horsehead Nebula, M45: The Pleiades, Mars, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and Rigel.
A visit with Orion
Collage of planets, galaxies, nebulae, and more that I captured in 2022. From Saturn and Andromeda to Thor's Helmet and the Milky Way.
My best space pictures taken in 2022
The footage of Orion I used to create the full Orion image from Grand Cayman.
Orion Rising
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