M78 is a reflection nebula in Orion. It is mostly a dark nebula except where bright stars provide starlight to light it up. New stars are being formed in it as evidenced by the Herbig Haro objects at the lower right. This area can change it's appearance nearly overnight. A few years ago McNeil's Nebula appeared above and left of the HH objects then vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Here's a link to a photo of that nebula. The double star to its left is obvious in my shot but the nebula is long gone.
http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/mcneil.html

I needed a lot more time but I'm fighting clouds here which closed in and haven't opened since. Thus, my data is severely limited. Still it gives a flavor of the dust in this region. If the clouds ever part and stop dropping snow flurries I'll try again.

14" LX200R, L=3x10' RGB=2x10', STL-11000XM, Paramount ME reproduced at 1.5" of arc per pixel due to band width limits.

Rick

Attached Images

M78L3X10RGB2X10R67.jpg (104.8 KB, 74 views)

Great work Rick. I am guessing it is difficult to highlight the dark regions on limited exposure time but you have done a superb job as always. Wishing you some clear but not too cold skys.

Kind regards
Matt

I like cold. Then I can run the camera very cold, say -60C and have a really clean image. I do all my imaging from my easy chair. I rarely go out to the observatory. Everything is controlled through my lap top computer. I stay nice and cozy by the fireplace.

Yes, with three or four times the Luminosity image I could light up the dust a lot better. My scope works at f/10 which is very "slow" compared to astrograph's that work at say f/3.5. I need 8 times the exposure. But I get a much larger image scale so it all is a trade off.

It would really start to show up well at 3 hours or so rather than the half hour the sky allowed me. I'll go back and add time when I get a chance. I was really surprised how well it did turn out for so little exposure time.

Rick

That's brilliant Rick! Thanks for posting.

Nice Rick. I'm in the process of shooting this target also, but with the weather it may be a few months before I get it completed.

Tom

Your scope will show the whole area to great advantage. 30 minutes I got between clouds is way too little for this area.

I seem to have a stream that runs right across me carrying clouds, IR photos show it often clear north and south of me but the band loves 47 degrees north it seems. The red dot shows where I'm at and was the most recent IR image. It's been this way for weeks. The band gets wider but never thinner nor does it move north or south. It stays right overhead. I'm getting paranoid.

I gave up and posted what little I had. If the weather stream ever changes I'll try again if I can convince myself to finish this rather than go to something new. New seems to win all too often.

Rick

Attached Images

WEATHER.jpg (74.7 KB, 8 views)

Great image, you always seem to be able to pull out fine detail in deep sky objects.

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Simply Beautiful! A great shot of the reflection nebula even with the limited views because of the weather. Welldone Rick and Clear Skies

Very nice shot Rick. The detail in the nebula is great. These dark nebula are very interesting.

I'm up visiting the UP so I see what you mean about clouds. I've been here since Friday and we did have a couple of hours of mostly clear skies on Sunday, but it has been overcast otherwise.

I bet you could get the band of clouds to move if you moved. They'd follow you

--Andy

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I'm almost paranoid enough about them to believe that!

Rick

Remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean everyone isn't out to get you...

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If I wasn't so paranoid myself I would be willing to bet they wouldn't follow you down here.

Kind regards
Matt

PS are we too much OT now?

They already did when I went there in July of 2006 and saw nothing but clouds while in Australia. I even got rained on most every day (mist to drizzle) even the time I spent at Ayer's Rock and other sites in the center of your country. It only cleared for a couple nights when I later went to NZ (north island) but by then the moon was doing its thing.

Rick