The Orion Nebula is a massive, glowing cloud of gas and dust located in the "Sword" of the constellation Orion. Situated roughly 1,344 light-years away, it is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. It isn't just a cloud; it is a chaotic, beautiful cosmic laboratory where new stars are being born from collapsing gravitational gas.
Scroll for information about the object, and how I processed the data
M42 - The Orion Nebula
Fun Facts
- At 1,300 light-years away, the light captured in the telescope left the nebula during the 7th Century. You are literally looking at the nebula as it appeared during the Middle Ages on Earth
- The nebula is "lit up" by the Trapezium Cluster - four incredibly hot, massive stars in the center. They act like giant floodlights, ionizing the surrounding hydrogen gas and making it glow red
- Inside this nebula, the Hubble Space Telescope has discovered over 150 "proplyds" (protoplanetary disks), infant stars surrounded by the dust and gas that will eventually form planets and moons
- M42 is the ultimate recycling center. When old stars die and explode, they scatter heavy elements into space. Gravity then pulls that "stardust" into clouds like M42 to create the next generation of stars and planets
- This is a 'two for one' capture. The Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977) is visible in the frame
Processing Notes
This is the first image I've processed out of my own telescope. Pleased with how it turned out, but tried a few times with different tools before I settled on the final image. The trickiest part was sorting out elongated stars (they looked like sausages), which I think was caused by rushing to set up the scope (you have to align and calibrate correctly). Managed to fix the stars somewhat using Affinity by creating an extra layer and adopting the 'darken and nudge' method. Turned out pretty well, and I like how the core of the nebula turned out.