Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) - Orion



Object Data: NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula) to the north (left in this photo), one of the most remarkable reflection nebulae in the night sky, has an underlay of glowing Ha (red) emission but is strongly overlaid with reflected light from the very bright star Alnitak resulting in almost unique and beautiful colours, ranging from shell-pink through yellow to deep orange. The dark central area is caused by an obscuring lane of dust which is believed to be part of the same cloud that causes the Horsehead Nebula.

Date: 12/12/2007
Location: Southern France
Conditions: Calm, moderate dew, transparency=8, seeing=6
Optics: Astro-Physics 155 EDF f/7 with 4" focuser and integral field flattener working at f/7
Mount: AP 900 GTO on Portable Pier
Camera: SBIG STL-11K, SBIG LRGBC filter set, -30°C
Guiding: Integral STL-11K autoguider
Exposure: Normal LRGB Seq: 20x 10 minutes; 3x 10 : 6.5 : 10 minutes (binned 2x2). Short LRGB Seq: 12x 1 minute; 3x 1 : .65 : 1 minutes (binned 2x2).

Processing: Image acquisition and initial processing using Maxim DL, subsequent processing in RegiStar and Photoshop.

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