The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Orion

            The Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in Orion

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434.

The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 422 parsecs or 1375 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head.

The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion. It is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away.

The bright star Alnitak (ζ Ori), the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion, shines energetic ultraviolet light into the Flame and this knocks electrons away from the great clouds of hydrogen gas that reside there. Much of the glow results when the electrons and ionized hydrogen recombine. Additional dark gas and dust lies in front of the bright part of the nebula and this is what causes the dark network that appears in the center of the glowing gas. The Flame Nebula is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famous Horsehead Nebula.   (Wikipedia.org)

Technical Information for Image

Telescope: William Optics Zenithstar 81 Refractor
Mount: iOptron CEM25P
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI294MC. Gain 120. Cooled to -5C.
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Guiding: William Optics 50mm, 200mm FL, ASI290MC camera
Exposures: 6 x 180s Bin 2x2
Capture, Guiding, Polar Alignment: ZWO ASIAIR Pro
Site: Borrego Springs, CA USA, Bortle 4
Processing: Pixinsight with Final Touchup in Photoshop CC

   

Taken on: October 20, 2020

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