Dark Nebula Barnard 33 in Orion
| Image exposure: 57 Minutes | Image Size: 30.9 x 30.9 arc-minutes | Image date: 2023-01-17 |
The Horsehead Nebula is a region of dark nebulosity which is visible only because it is silhouetted against the bright emission nebula IC434, a star forming region, which lies beyond it. It really does resemble a horsehead!
Below it, to the left, is a bright nebula, NGC 2023.
This region lies very close to Alnitak, one of the three famous bright stars which are known as Orion’s Belt.
I wanted a sharper image than what I actually got, mainly because I was unable to capture enough frames. Maybe next time. (I say that a lot).
Four years ago I took a wider view image of this region, which shows the Horsehead, together with Alnitak and the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). Unfortunately it has a satellite trail racing across it but it is a complex and interesting region.
Image © Roger Powell
The Horsehead is located about 1600 light years away.
| 🔹 Images © Roger Powell 🔹 Esprit 120 refractor. 🔹 Focal length: 1680 mm. 🔹 EQ6-R Pro mount. 🔹 CLS-CCD dual band filter. |
Location of Orion Constellation
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Even with the satellite trrack, I really like that second photo. I assume the first is a crop of the second photo?
Interestingly, when I click on the second photo, it opens in a new tab, but upsidedown.
It also flashed a Jetpack message the first time I clicked, but I didn’t catch what it said.
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No, the lower shot was taken in 2018 and the featured image was taken last month with a 2X Powermate, which reduces (magnifies) the FOV.
That 2018 image originally had the Horsehead upside-down. I rotated it using the WordPress editor for the feature image but annoyingly could not find a way of rotating it in the new enlarged tab.
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