Russell Croman Astrophotography  

 

 

Horse Head and Flame Nebulae


About This Photograph

A collection of wonders pose here for a celestial portrait. On the lower left is the Flame Nebula, a cloud of gas illuminated by a source seemingly hidden by the dark, forked tongue of dust bisecting the nebula. Off to the right is the famous Horse Head Nebula, the most well-known of cosmic silhouettes, with its vast curtain of hydrogen gas as its back-drop. Two other luminous shrouds for newborn stars also adorn the view: IC432 on the left, and the bluish NGC 2023 below center. And topping off the scene is the brilliant star, Alnitak, a blue supergiant some 11,000 times more luminous than the sun.

 

Technical Details

Optics:TeleVue NP-101.
Camera:SBIG ST-10XME, CFW8.
Mount:Piggy-backed on a 10" LX200GPS.
Filters:Custom Scientific 3nm H-alpha; SBIG RGB filter set.
Dates/Times:12-13 November 2002.
Location:my backyard observatory in Austin, Texas.
Exposure Details:(Ha+R)GB = 180:32:30:52.
Processing:MaxImDL (combine, color processing), Photoshop (levels, curves, etc.), ImagesPlus (sharpening).