The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.
NGC 1973/5/7 is a reflection nebula 1/2 degree northeast of the Orion Nebula. The three NGC objects are divided by darker regions. It is also called The Running Man Nebula and Sharpless Catalog 279.
| Object | M42/M43 - Orion Nebula incl. NGC1973 |
|---|---|
| Constellation: | Orion |
| Position: | RA 5h 35,3m DEC −5° 23,5′ |
| Apparent Size: | 60 arcmin |
| Apparent Magnitude: | +4.0 |
| Distance (average) | 1350 ± 23 ly |
| Photo Datas | |
| Date | 28.12.2016, 21:05 UTC |
| Location | Knottenried/Oberallgäu, 1002m ASL GPS: 47°36’13“ N, 10°11’24“ E |
| Sky darkness SQM-L | Zenit 20.8mag/sqrsec, Object 20.5mag/sqrsec |
| Ground Temp./Air Pressure | -6.0°C / mbar |
| Thermal sky temp./weather | > -60°C Zenit |
| Seeing (Bortle) | |
| Telescope | Canon f/2.8 EF 300mm IS USM I |
| Camera | Sony A7Ra mod @ T sensor= -2.0°C |
| Expose frames | ISO 3200, RAW 14x30s + 1x2s, 5 darks |
| Total expose |
7 min |
| Filter | CLS CCD |
| Mount | FS2 |
| Guiding Cam | no |
| Software | DSS 3.3.4, Photoshop CC |
| Remarks |
C 2016 Peter Cerveny