ORION NEBULA, one of the most beautiful and photographed celestial objects.
Believed to be the cosmic fire of creation by the Maya of Mesoamerica, M42 blazes brightly in the constellation Orion. Popularly called the Orion Nebula, this stellar nursery has been known to many different cultures throughout human history. The nebula is only 1,500 light-years away, making it the closest large star-forming region to Earth and giving it a relatively bright apparent magnitude of 4. Because of its brightness and prominent location just below Orion’s belt, M42 can be spotted with the naked eye, while offering an excellent peek at stellar birth for those with telescopes. It is best observed during January.
The Mayan culture’s likening of the Orion Nebula to a cosmic fire of creation is very apt. The nebula is an enormous cloud of dust and gas where vast numbers of new stars are being forged. Its bright, central region is the home of four massive, young stars that shape the nebula. The four hefty stars are called the Trapezium because they are arranged in a trapezoidal pattern. Ultraviolet light unleashed by these stars is carving a cavity in the nebula and disrupting the growth of hundreds of smaller stars (Source: NASA).
This image was created from the following sets of exposures using a 395-mm effective focal length at f1.9 and a special filter to bring out the colors.
30 @ 30 sec
30 @ 60 sec
20 @ 90 sec.
I processed it using HDR (high dynamic range) because it's core is very bright. I probably could have used even some shorter exposures.
The reds are ionized hydrogen-alpha and blues are oxygen III.
The Running Man Nebula is the smaller object near the top of the image.
Thanks so much for viewing.
