Updated: 2010 Apr 28

M42 & 43 - Orion Nebula

M42 & M43: This 30-second exposure shows the great extent of brightness in the Orion Nebula and surrounding area. This immense cloud of gas and dust is the birthplace of new stars. Large "spikes" emanating from bright stars are image artifacts called "blooming". The picture was made with an Apogee AP8p camera using a 1024x1024 SITe CCD chip. The field of view through the 0.76-m f/6 telescope is about 19 arc-minutes.

This image is a close-up showing details in the brightest regions of the nebula. The four bright stars in the upper right are collectively called the "Trapezium" due to its shape. In the image at the top of this page, one can distinguish a shape that looks like a giant bird with outstretched wings. In this image, one may see a smaller bird that appears to be in landing mode. The brightest star in the middle of the picture harbors an unseen companion thought to be a "black hole." The two small bright knots just below and to the right of that star are called "Herbig-Haro" objects.

The images used to make this picture were taken with an SBIG ST6 camera. B&W exposures made through red, green, and blue filters were combined and processed to

make the final color image. An interesting streaming feature can be seen emanating from a star near the bright orange star in the upper right. I have no idea what astronomical puzzle this represents, and I had never noticed it before making this image. It can be seen in the image at the top of the page (upper left quad). I suspect the reason I hadn't noticed it before is that there is so much overwhelming detail in the Orion Nebula that it could easily be overlooked.

 

Above images on this page were made at Stony Ridge Observatory by Steve Brewster and John E. Rogers.

 

 

 

 

The image at right was made by University of Southern California (USC) students Bill Benton and Ken Owensby. The 45-minute exposure was made on 103a-O film on the 0.76m SRO reflector on Oct 6, 1973.

The bright star is Zeta Orionis, aka. Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion's belt. This star is responsible for illuminating the nearby gas clouds which form NGC 2024 (upper left), the faint ridge below the star called IC 434, and Barnard 33, aka. the Horsehead Nebula. North east of the Horsehead is NGC 2023.

This field is 38x48 arc-minutes.