Photographing the Horsehead and Flame Nebula

Описание: The Horsehead (B33) and Flame (NGC 2024) Nebulae are two of the most famous and highly photographed nebulae in the night sky. The Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula made of interstellar gas and dust. The nebula is visible to us because it is backlit by a bright emission nebula (IC 434) that sits behind it. IC 434 is ionized by the bright star (actually a gravitationally bound system of 5 stars) called Sigma Orionis. The Flame Nebula is an emission nebula energized by the bright star, Alnitak. The Horsehead and the Flame sit right next to the star Alnitak on adjacent corners, about 1,350 light years from Earth. Alnitak is easy to find in the night sky as it is the bottom star in Orion’s Belt.

Equipment Used:

Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 103mm APO Doublet
Mount: iOptron CEM 60 Center Equatorial Mount
Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro Dedicated Monochrome Astronomy Camera
Filter Wheel: ZWO 8-position Filter Wheel
Autoguider: ZWO Off Axis Guider
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Monochrome Camera

Since this object has a very heavy ionized Hydrogen presence, I used a Hydrogen filter to collect several hours of exposure to capture the gassy background. I also used a series of broadband filters to capture the natural star color and the broadband signal reflected from the dark and reflection nebulae. I took this photo over the span of two years during several nights. I collected over 20 hours of total exposure on these objects.