The Horsehead Nebula & "Friends"
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Designation
 IC 434 & B33 "The Horsehead Nebula" & NGC 2024 "The Flame Nebula"
Type  Dark Nebula (B33), Reflection & Emission Nebula (IC 434, NGC 2024, NGC 2023, IC 432 & IC 435
Constellation  Orion
Coordinates  Telescope centered at RA '05 40 08'    Dec '-02 22 53'
Magnitude  
Size  2 light years from the "snout to back mane"
Distance  1,600 light years
Dimensions  6 x 4 & 30 x 30 arcminutes
Image Field  90.6 x 131.3 arcminutes
Notes:
 
 The Horsehead nebula is a relatively small dark nebula comprised of mostly dust illuminated against the faint glow of emission nebula (excited hydrogen) IC 434. This whole region is part of the Orion molecular cloud, a rich star forming region, which also includes the Orion Nebula (M42)
  The Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) is a bright emission nebula which is aptly named although it also reminds me of a Fall Maple Leaf.
The very bright star left of center is Alnitak or Zeta Orionis, the third "belt star" in the distinctive Orion constellation.
 
 
Telescope  Takahashi FS60C f/5.9 on Losmandy G-11 with Gemini L3
Focal Length  264 mm @ f/4.4 with Takahashi focal reducer
Guiding  Starlight Xpress SXV guidehead through 10" SCT @ f/3.3
Telescope Control  Maxim DL (V3)
CCD Camera
 Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 - USB 2 ExView progressive scan
1392 x 1040 (6.45 uM) pixel array (8.98 x 6.71 active area)
Image Scale 5.23 arcsec/pixel
Filters
 1.25" Astronomik Type II Dichroic IR blocking filter in Astronomik filter drawer - Ha
Exposures
 Total exposure time: 290 minutes - Ha 38 x 5 minutes unbinned. Red 32 (8 x 4) minutes, Green 28 (7 x 4) minutes, Blue 40 (10 x 4) minutes. RGB binned 2x.
All Sigma combined.
Calibration  None
Processing Software  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS (8.0)
Location
 Apopka, FL - 28.743 N , - 81.519 W  & Color
Chiefland Astronomy Village, FL - 29.393 N , - 82.863 W
Date/Time  10/09/04  / '06:22' - '09:54' UT' & for Color 10/16/04 - 08:55-10:36
Object Information
Image Information
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