Great Orion Nebula M42 & NGC 1973, NGC 1975 & NGC 1977
M 42 Great Orion Nebula, Pictured above. Next to it is M43 (NGC 1982) along with the blue nebula called “The Running man” NGC 1977. The start cluster NGC 1981 is superimposed over the blue nebula. The pinkish nebula composes of M42 & M43 at magnitude 4, and is visible a a one degree fuzzy patch to the naked eye. These nebulae reside in the sword of Orion below the left bright belt star Alnitak. This region of nebulae is approximately 1344 light years from earth and 12 light years in diameter. 60 x 60 arc-minutes .
| Telescope / Lens | TEC 140 f/7 5.5″ Refractor 980mm focal length |
| Mount | AstroPhysics 1200 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20d DSLR |
| Filters | None |
| Film | DLSR |
| Exposure | 88 minutes; 5min exposures @ ISO 400, 800, 1600 & 1 minute @ ISO 100 |
| Processing | Deep SkyStacker, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2 & Picture Wind Pro |
| Date | Images taken 09/12/2007 |
| Location | June Mountain 122° 43.528′ W, 43° 48.407′
N 22 miles S of Dexter, Oregon |
| Conditions | 3232′ clear calm skies magnitude 6 |
The Orion nebula M42 is even visible in light polluted skies with the naked eye. Dark sky locations show a glowing gaseous area the middle star of the “sword” of Orion. These stars are located south of Orion’s belt. Wide Field eyepieces in a 10-14″ scope really brings out the detail.