Published
in Sky & Telescope
M42, M43 and NGC 1977 The Sword of OrionPublished
in Sky & Telescope
M42, M43 and NGC 1977 The Sword of Orion
M-42, the Great Orion Nebula is the most famous of all nebulas. It is probably also the most photographed. Its close companion NGC 1977 would be a very well known nebula also if it were in a different region of the sky, but its close proximity to its overpowering neighbor means it is often forgotten. M-43 is the little circle of nebulosity just left of the bright "core" of M-42. These objects are easy to see without any visual aid. They make up the three "sword" stars of Orion's belt region.
This image is a mosaic of five frames. Each frame was made from a composite of two 60 minute exposures on hypered Kodak PJ 400 film. In addition, a composite of two 3 minute exposures of the core area was used in a brightness mask to help preserve the bright core detail. There are 12 exposures in all that were combined via digital methods to create this mosaic; each one was made with a 12.5" Newtonian.
