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HORSEHEAD & FLAME Nebula on 2023-12-16+17+18

This photo was done in my backyard in Kyle, Texas through a 6-inch Sky-Watcher f/4 Telescope, on a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R mount, using a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. 127 subs x 240 sec. Plus an Optolong L Pro Light Polution Filter.

The Horsehead Nebula, IC434 , also known as Barnard 33, and its companion, the Flame Nebula, sit near the star Alnitak in Orion’s Belt. They are located about 1,400 light-years from Earth. The Horsehead is a dark, light-gobbling nebula made of cold gas and dust. This dark cloud’s signature shape is only visible because its silhouette obscures the light from the brighter nebula behind it. The horse’s prominent “jaw” is actually shaped by intense radiation from a nearby star blowing on the dark cloud. The Horsehead Nebula is just one piece of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. This star forming region spreads across hundreds of light-years and covers much of the Orion constellation. By studying it, astronomers have learned the stellar nursery has already given birth to young stars, some even with protoplanetary disks. Three named nebulae are visible in my photo, the Horsehead Nebula, the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024),  and NGC 2023 (The white cloud with blue and pink fringes, a little below and to the right of center, between the Flame and the Horsehead). The Flame Nebula is the brightest and largest in the image. It is lit by a star inside it that is 20 times the mass of the sun and would be as bright to our eyes as the other stars in Orion’s belt if it weren’t for all the surrounding dust, which makes it appear 4 billion times dimmer than it actually is. The Flame nebula is a spectacular star-forming region.

Previous Photos:

HORSEHEAD & FLAME NEBULA NEBULA on 2021-01-17

This photo was done in my backyard in Kyle, Texas through a 4.5-inch f/4 Telescope, mounted piggyback on my 17.5-inch telescope, driven by my home built AZ/ALT mount, using a ZWO ASI533MC PRO color camera. 127 subs x 60 sec.

OBJECT = Horsehead Nebula

 TELESCOPE = 17.5 inch f3.23

 CAMERA = ST-7E;

LOCATION = Seguin Outdoor Learning Center - Seguin, Texas

DATE (Yr-Mo-Dy) = 2005-12-29

TIME (UT) = 07:36:40

IMAGES STACKED = 14

INDIVIDUAL EXPOSURES = 60 sec

TOTAL EXPOSURE TIME = 840 sec.