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Robert Chozick | all galleries >> Galleries >> Deep Sky Images > Horsehead and Flame Nebulas in Hydrogen Alpha
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February 15, 2013

Horsehead and Flame Nebulas in Hydrogen Alpha

Backyard - Plano, TX

This is the first light for for my new Takahashi FSQ-106N

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 in bright nebula IC 434) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just below (to the south of) Alnitak, the star farthest left on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of the shape of its swirling cloud of dark dust and gases, which is similar to that of a horse's head when viewed from Earth. The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis.

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away. The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas

Takahashi FSQ-106N Quadruplet Fluorite Refractor
SBIG STF-8300M CCD camera
Astro Tech 72 ED guidescope
Starlight Xpress Lodestar Guider
Astro Physics Mach 1 GTO mount

Hydrogen Alpha 1x1 - 16 exp at 30 minutes each

Guided with PHD
Captured and Stacked in Nebulosity 3
Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop CS5 full exif


other sizes: small medium large original auto