The Great Nebula in the Sword of Orion
January 29, 2016
The circular Birds Head region with the bright central star that joins M42 at the top is designated M43, another Messier object. Just above M43 is a region of reflection nebulosity known as The Running Man Nebula. Can you see him? Finally, the very bright blue star at the bottom (south end) of M42 is 44. It's a quadruple star system also known as Iota Orionis or Hatsya "the bright one of the sword."
Image Details: Taken with a Hyperstar III on a C11 telescope with an M25C OSC CCD camera. My deep sky image is a little unusual in that I also included some narrowband, hydrogen-alpha (H-alpha) data to bring out more of the emission nebulosity. Additionally, near-infrared data were employed, using an R72 infrared pass filter, that lets through light with wavelengths longer than 720 nm and cuts out light below this wavelength.
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