Category: Photography

The Horsehead Nebula is a difficult object for purely visual observation, and I have never managed to actually see it.  But amateur astronomy has advanced tremendously over the 30 years since my first telescope, especially astrophotography.  This photo only shows the faintest blurry image of the Horsehead, but, as you can verify from the screenshot below, it’s the real deal!

Below is a view from Stellarium (free planetarium software) of the same area.  I’ve rotated and scaled the image to match the photo.

Interestingly, an inch or so to the left of the star Alnitak below is another fairly bright orange star.  It is much dimmer in the photograph above than in the graphic below.  It is, in fact, the variable star V1197 Ori.  Apparently I caught it on a lower brightness phase.

Original color image — 15 second exposure at ISO 3200, 61mm Radian Raptor telescope, motorized mount, and an Olympus 4/3 camera:

The typical weather pattern lately has been very clear days with clouds rolling in at night.  I was going to take a bunch of 15 second exposures and try stacking them, but I only got 4 before the view was obliterated.  I may try stacking them later, just to see if there is any improvement, but no matter — this is pretty good for a 15 second exposure with a very small telescope.