Astronomy and astrophotography under California stars
M42
The Great Orion Nebula
M42, the Great Orion Nebula, taken with a Canon EOS 20D and Takahashi TOA-130F telescope. Click for a larger version.
Other Names/Objects NGC1976 (M42, Orion Nebula) / NGC1977 (Running Man Nebula)
Optics Takahashi TOA-130F Telescope at f/7.5
Mount Mountain Instruments MI-250 with Gemini on ATS portable pier
Camera Canon EOS 20D [ Hutech Type I ]
Exposure 60 minutes [ 20 x 3 minutes ] at ISO 1600*
Calibration 20 darks | 15 flats | 0 bias
Air Temperature Unknown
Accessories Takahashi 35mm Flattener | Autoguided with piggybacked SV80S and ST-2000XM
Location GMARS in Landers, California
Date November 18, 2006
Notes Processing: Image acquisition, align, and combine with ImagesPlus v2.8. Levels, curves, and unsharp mask in Photoshop.

* In addition to the twenty 3-minute images, I took three 15-second images, and three 3-second images. These were averaged and added in as their own layers. Doing this allowed the Trapezium at the core of the nebula to remain visible while still displaying the fainter outer areas of the nebula. Also applied were 15 dark frames (median combined) and 3 flat frames, each 1/100th of a second (average combined).

This is one of two "first light" images for my Takahashi TOA-130F. The other was the Horsehead.

Larger versions:
1800 x 1200 (~1.5 MB)