Orion Nebula, M42

Jan 2021

Imaging: TS80 apo, ZWO ASI533 (100 gain, -10C), Neodymium
Subs: 518x60s, 432x10s (9h), darks, flats, and darkflats
Software: NINA, Phd2, PixInsight, StarNet2

(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.

This is my one year anniversary shot of Orion. I captured this across many nights from mid December 2021 through January 2022. Orion is one target that appeals to beginners and intermediate imagers alike. It is quite easy to get a beginner shot of it because it is so large and so bright. But it has a very high dynamic range so intermediate imagers such as myself also like to take a hand to it. To capture the dim outer nebulosity while not blowing out the core requires HDR techniques, in my case both 60s exposures and 10s exposures. You then process the separate stacks and then combine them using the 10s exposure to replace the brighter, saturated areas of the 60s exposures. Of course you might ask what is so special here since any modern cell phone can create HDR pictures, but there is something to be said for being able to do it manually!

To see the change from my January 2021 version, take a look at this GIF.