Orion Nebula, M42



Jan 2021

Imaging: ST120 achro, Canon 1000D 400ISO, no filter, no guiding
Subs: 1128x20s (6.2h)
Software: PixInsight

(Additional notes below)

Gallery

Notes

The Orion Nebula is certainly one of the most famous DSOs and so bright you can catch a hint of it naked eye in dark skies. At 1344 LY away, it is the closest star nursery to earth. It is within the Orion constellation, halfway between the hunter's belt and knees.

I captured this over 6 nights in early Jan 2021. I was getting star trails at even 30 second exposure so this was a lot of very short 20s exposures. Even with that, the core was blown out. I think the only way to avoid that is to use multi-exposure length subs and combine with HDR processing... but I have not yet learned that technique.

While I of course like my picture, this would be considered a subpar image by the amateur astrophotography community. The bright stars are bloated and too blue. This is cause by my "not-high-end" telescope. I hope to have a much better picture for next season.