by Craig and Tammy Temple
Probably the most famous and easily recognized deep-space object, Barnard 33, a dark nebula commonly known as The Horsehead, is situated in the middle of the constellation Orion. It gracefully stands out in front of emission nebula IC 434. Also visible in this image, is Alnitak, the very bright left-most star in Orion's belt. Below Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, NGC 2024, an emission nebula energized by Alnitak. To the left of The Flame is reflection nebula IC432. Above IC432 is reflection nebula IC431. To the right of the Flame, is reflection nebula, NGC 2023. The reflection nebula below NGC 2023 is IC435.
RGB Color Data:
Telescope: Orion 80ED at f/7.5
Accessories: Astro Tech AT2FF zero-power field flattener; Dew control by DewBuster
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider on William Optics ZS66
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel T1i, Hap Griffin Baader modified
Filter(s): Hutech IDAS LPS-V2-FF EOS Clip
Exposure: 110 x 180sec @ ISO 800 (5hr. 30mins.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.80b Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80a – Calibrated, registered, Min/Max excluded averaged, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Noise Ninja; Noel Carboni’s Tools
Date(s): January 10 & 13, 2010
Temperature(s): N1: 22ºF (dropped to 18ºF); N2:29ºF (dropped to 23ºF)
SQM reading (begin - end): N1:18.46 – 18.91; N2:18.92 – 19.21 mags./sq. Arcsec
Hydrogen-Alpha Data:
Telescope: Orion 80ED at f/7.5
Accessories: Astro Tech AT2FF zero-power field flattener; Dew control by DewBuster
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-G controlled by EQMOD
Guiding: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider on William Optics ZS66
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel T1i, Hap Griffin Baader modified
Filter(s): Astronomik 6nm H-Alpha EOS Clip
Exposure: 15 x 900sec @ ISO 1600 (3hr. 45mins.)
Acquisition: ImagesPlus 3.80b Camera Control
Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80a – Calibrated, registered, Sigma-clipped averaged, DDP
Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS4; Noise Ninja
Date(s): January 4 & 5, 2010
Temperature(s): 20ºF (dropped to 18ºF) (both nights)