Observations of M42

These are the observations available for M42. If you have any of your own that you'd like to submit we'd love to put them on the website.

• A Bit of Fun with M42

  I suspect the Orion Nebula, M42, is the most popular target in the beginner astro-imager's sky. So it is not a target I would normally share; I'm sure you've seen many versions. However, here are a couple of images with a bit of a story of me continuing to learn and change.

  I'm a member of a small team of astronomers doing online outreach for the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy (IOA). Since lockdown, each clear Wednesday evening during the winter months, we will attempt to observe and present online, objects of particular interest in the night sky, often related to the subject of a talk. This activity certainly tests the mettle of my ability to find and present images of objects quickly and demands the best performance from my equipment.

  Last year, therefore, I purchased a ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro camera and Sharpcap to provide colour images quickly with Sharpcap providing imaging stacking in real-time. I've found it to be an excellent electronically assisted astronomy (EAA) tool and it has transformed my enjoyment of observing to one with a more real-time appreciation of objects, as opposed to extended sessions of imaging a single object with my QSI CCD camera.

  M42, of course, has been one of our Wednesday evening targets and I've been astonished at the deep contrast between the brightness of the Trapezium core and the much fainter outer reaches of the nebula.

  Once our online session had ended, I set about exploring what the ZWO camera could do with the subject. I gathered a range of exposures ranging between 100 x four seconds and 10 x five minutes and then blended the images together in Photoshop. I have two images to share.

  The first is of the Trapezium region using exposures ranging from four seconds to two minutes and blending the images to provide a high dynamic range view. Many of the fainter stars in the Trapezium region are well shown but my telescope is not big enough to separate stars e, f and g in the Trapezium.

  

  The second image also blends the five minutes exposures of the outer regions of the nebula and shows well the convoluted gas clouds of emission and reflection that are sculpted by the newly born stars at the core.

  

  Image Details

  RGB exposures: 4 secs, 30 secs, 120 secs and 300 secs.

  • Telescope: 200mm Ritchey-Chretien plus a 0.7x reducer to give 1160mm focal length at F/5.8
  • Camera: ASI ZWO 294 MC Pro
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8
  • Software: Sharpcap, Deep Sky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Capture One, Topaz Studio 2, Topaz Denoise AI

  David Davies - (20 January 2022).

• Observing at Teggs Nose with Binoculars

  I was lucky enough to see a clear sky during Friday evening. After the rain had cleared off. The skies were clear although. There was a lot of moisture around. This moisture eventually froze out. Leaving a sharp hoar frost at dawn.

  Tegg's Nose country park was my destination. I travelled up there from my home in Macclesfield. Although this site is not far from the centre of the town. The skies can be quite dark. Normally we can see magnitude 4.6 stars, and on those rare occasions, magnitude 5.

  The Moon was visible during the early evening. But she wasn't a problem. It was a thin crescent hanging majestically in the western sky.

  I was with members from my local astronomical society's observing group. And we had a good time.

  I was up there to take pictures of Orion and the famous nebulae. But I also wanted to use my 20 x 70 observation binoculars.

  M42 was a magnificent sight through my tripod mounted binoculars. I counted all four stars of the trapezium, and I was able see Sigma Orionis and see the companion stars.

  Lepus the Hare was very clear last night. The Alpha and Beta stars were crystal clear. I thought I might see M79. But I failed. I will try again on the next clear, Moonless night we have.

  Messier 41 was very clear, together with Sirius.

  NGC 2237, the open cluster at the centre of the Rosette nebula. Was another easy target. And comet Catalina was a large fuzzy blob just North of Alkaid.

  M42 and the nebula NGC 1973-75-77 are shown in this picture. I used a Canon 1000D with a 200mm Pentacon telephoto lens. This was attached to my Skywatcher Star Adventurer.

  

  Paul Brierley - (16 January 2016).