The Orion Nebula - A Star Factory at 1500 Light Years Distance.
CCD Photo : 40 Minutes exposure time : Red/Green/Blue : 200 Sec / 800 Sec / 1400 Sec. - January 09 , 2000, 20-22 UT.
Click for full resolution...
"My God, it's full of stars" - quoting from the Science Fiction Novel "2001" by Arthur C. Clarke.
Within the constellation of Orion - a lot of young stars form the Orion Association. This Great Nebula in orion. Is a part of an even larger cloud of interstellar matter which is about 1500-1600 ly away and several hundred light years across. It's the most photografed deep-sky object.
Technical Data : 5" Meade APO f9 refractor mounted PB on our user retrained 16" SCT.
AP6
CCD camera - image processing with Cyanogen
MaxIm DL .
Sky conditions - occasional clouds, freezing - no Moon light.
Photographers : The Astronomy Class.
Send an email to those eager students, who in turn were guiding our telescope that night..
Interesting Links :
University of Arizona , M42 Information Page, including links to other amateur pages.
M42 - Catania Astrophysical Observatory - Italy