First Effort at Messier 78 nebula area

 

M 78

DATA:  48 minute exposure (a stack of 32 images of 90 sec each)

at prime focus

Stacked in Affinity Photo, post processed in Luminar 2018

Scope: Meade LX200GPS 8"   Camera: Canon T3i (unmodded)

Messier 78 (M78) is located between of the brilliant star Betelgeuse in the upper right-hand corner of the  constellation Orion, the Hunter, and north of the left-most star (Alnitak) in the "belt" of Orion.

About M 78 and the region around it (source: Wikipedia)

Messier 78 or M78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that includes NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. It is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth.

 M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude.

This is my first effort at this beautiful nebula. With more data and a different camera I am sure I can draw out even more color and detail! Got to do it again !!

Did you know that the constellation Orion is mentioned four times in the Bible?

Job 9:9 He (God the Creator) is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

Job 38:31 (God speaking) “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?" 

Amos 5:8  He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name. 

Isaiah 13:10-11 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. (God speaking) I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.