South of Orion’s Belt

Constellation: Orion

This image is a mosaic integrating 9 panes that cover Orion’s Belt and the region to its South. It includes not only the well-known Flame, Horsehead, Walking Man, De Mairan’s and the Great Orion nebulae, but also several smaller nebulae in their vicinity. Clickable image

Telescope & Mount:

Celestron 9.25″ EdgeHD with Hyperstar 4.0 on a Celestron CGX-L mount. Guiding with a Tecnosky 70/400 and a Lacerta MGEN 2 autoguider.

Imaging:

Camera: ASI2600MC-Pro (bin 1×1)

Data:
Optolong L-Pro: 700x30s

Total integration time: 5h 50′

The Horsehead nebula

The Horsehead nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion’s Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion molecular cloud complex, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434. The deep-red colour originates from ionised hydrogen gas (Hα) and is caused by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis.

To the northeast is NGC 2023, and emission and reflection nebula.

The Flame nebula

The Flame nebula (also known as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277) is an emission nebula located just to the east of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion’s Belt. At the center of the Flame nebula is a cluster of newly formed stars.

To the northwest of the Flame nebula is IC 432, a reflection nebula.

The Orion nebula

The Orion nebula (also known as NGC 1076 and Messier 42). It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. It is approximately 1,344 Ly away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The Messier 42 nebula is estimated to be 24 Ly across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun.

At the northern end of Messier 42 is Messier 43 (also known as De Mairan’s nebula and NGC 1982). It is a star-forming nebula.

To the north of Messier 43 is the Running Man nebula (also known as Sh2-279). It comprises three NGC objects (NGC 1973, NGC 1975 and NGC 1977) that are divided by darker nebulous regions, the Running Man. To the north of nebula is an open cluster (NGC 1981).

To the south of Messier 42 is the bright star Iota Orionis, which is also part of the young open cluster NGC 1980.

Orion’s Belt

The three stars of Orion’s belt, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, from southeast to northwest. North of Alnilam is the nebula IC 426, and to its west is LBN 940. IC 423 is a small nebula southeast of Mintaka.