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Until We Meet Again, Orion's Great Nebulae: A Final D3 Mosaic for a Fantastic Winter Season
Until We Meet Again, Orion's Great Nebulae: A Final D3 Mosaic for a Fantastic Winter Season
As spring breathes warmth into the earth, our hearts and minds eagerly welcome back the light and warmth of our singular star, the sun. We bid farewell to this year's crisp, dark winter nights, which were graced with the spectacular parade of all our solar system's planets in the evening sky, alongside a wealth of deep-sky objects just waiting to be captured.
Here in Central Europe, we were fortunate to have a week of cloudless nights at the end of December, perfectly timed with Dwarflab's release of the object scheduler. This update allowed us astro-nuts to indulge in going all night! As the season progressed, I honed my skills in EQ Mode and Mosaic framing, bolstered by valuable updates from the Dwarflabs team. In the final days of winter, I successfully captured an impressive 4-plus-hour-long mosaic of the Orion Nebula complex, spanning from NGC 1980 all the way south to NGC 1999, the Keyhole Nebula.
As a final salute to this remarkable season, I proudly present my best rendition of M42 to date: the Orion Nebula Mosaic.
This mosaic spans 35 light-years of space and is 1,340 light-years distant. M42 is 26 light-years across and has a volume of several thousand stars.
From North to south, the DSO's of the mosaic + captures from space scopes
From North to south, the DSO's of the mosaic + captures from space scopes
A beautiful open star cluster, NGC 1981, sits at the very top of the mosaic. While it may not have the gas clouds found in other areas of the mosaic, it consists of bright, relatively young stars formed from the larger Orion Molecular Cloud complex. Sometimes referred to as the "Lost Jewel of Orion," it resembles a delightful sprinkle of stellar diamonds.
NGC 1977, NGC 1975, & NGC 1973 - The Running Man Nebula: This stunning bluish region located just north of the main M42/M43 complex is primarily a reflection nebula; it doesn't emit light on its own but instead reflects light from nearby young, hot blue stars. If you look closely (or use your imagination), the dark lanes within it can resemble the silhouette of a person running, which is how it got its name. This nebula consists of three NGC objects grouped.
Hubble imaged a small section of the Running Man Nebula, which lies close to the famed Orion Nebula and is a favorite target for amateur astronomers to observe and photograph.NASA, ESA, J. Bally (University of Colorado at Boulder), and DSS; Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 301-286-1940
M43 / NGC 1982 - De Mairan's Nebula: M43 is situated just above and next to M42 in my mosaic, appearing as a smaller companion. It is part of the same giant cloud complex but is visually separated from M42 by a dark lane of interstellar dust. Unlike M42, which is illuminated by multiple stars, M43 is primarily energized by one large, hot star at its center, which is visible in the image. The nebula is named after the French astronomer Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, who observed in 1731 that it was not entirely part of the main nebulous structure.
M42 / NGC 1976 - The Orion Nebula: A breathtaking marvel of the night sky, the centerpiece of my cosmic capture, and a true spectacle of nature! This vast stellar nursery, the closest to Earth, is alive with the birth of countless stars, each emerging in a dazzling array of colors and sizes. As luminous clouds of gas and dust swirl and intertwine, the nebula paints a mesmerizing tapestry of creation, inviting awe and wonder from all who gaze upon it. You can witness the glow of stellar creation happening right before your eyes. At its center (though difficult to see in detail without significant magnification) is the Trapezium Cluster, which consists of four bright young stars illuminating the nebula like a cosmic stadium. This nebula is an emission nebula, meaning the gas is glowing due to being energized by those young, hot stars.
The Trapezium powering the Orion Nebula - K.L. Luhman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.); and G. Schneider, E. Young, G. Rieke, A. Cotera, H. Chen, M. Rieke, R. Thompson (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.) and NASA/ESA
Messier 43 - NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
Photo taken by Rogelio Bernal Andreo in October 2010 of the Orion constellation, showing the surrounding nebulas of the Orion Molecular Cloud complex. Also captured is the red supergiant Betelgeuse (top left) and the famous belt of Orion composed of the OB stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. To the bottom right can be found the star Rigel. The red crescent shape is Barnard's Loop. The photograph appeared as the Astronomy Picture of the Day on October 23, 2010 >.
NGC 1980: At the bottom of the main nebula structure, surrounding the bright star Iota Orionis—located at the tip of Orion's Sword—is a grouping consisting of an open cluster and associated nebulosity. This area is part of the larger Orion OB1 association.
The Orion OB1 association is a vast collection of hundreds of hot, young, massive stars, primarily of spectral types O and B, located in the constellation Orion. Over the last 12 million years, these stars were all born from different parts of the immense Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. While they originated together, they are now a loosely bound or unbound group drifting through space.
IC 427, 428 & NGC 1999 - The Keyhole Nebula / 13th Pearl: Just south of NGC 1980 are two small, fainter reflection nebulae listed in the Index Catalogue as IC 427 and IC 428. These nebulae reflect light from nearby stars. Below them is NGC 1999, known as the Keyhole Nebula. The dark patch in the center makes this reflection nebula remarkable, shaped like an old-fashioned keyhole. Astronomers have long believed this dark area was a super-dense blob of dust blocking light from behind. However, newer observations suggest it might be a hole—an empty cavity blown clear through the nebula, possibly by jets from a young, hot star!
Credit: Orion Nebula in Visible Light - ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin
About the Shot
About the Shot
I captured this image of the great nebulae in Orion using the DWARF 3 smart scope with its built-in mosaic mode, accessible through the DWARFLAB app. This feature allows you to define the area of the sky you want to capture, and the scope adjusts its position throughout the capture to ensure that the entire selected area is evenly exposed across the field. My capture process took over four hours in Equatorial (EQ) mode, using 30-second exposures at a gain of 60.
After finishing the capture process, I edited the final raw stack from the telescope in Photoshop. During the editing phase, I used RC Astro's X tools to separate the nebulae from the stars. I used Lightroom to modify the color and brightness settings for color adjustments. In a future post, I will share the tips and tricks I used to achieve this image.
Thank you for reading & Clear skies, everyone - Duncan
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