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The
Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) and the
Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) are two well-known nebulae located in the constellation Orion, embedded within the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula whose distinctive shape is created by dense interstellar dust silhouetted against the glowing hydrogen emission of the background nebula IC 434. Its iconic profile is sculpted by radiation and stellar winds from nearby massive stars.
Just to the east lies the Flame Nebula, an emission nebula illuminated by intense ultraviolet radiation from the nearby star Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion’s Belt. Dark dust lanes cut through the glowing gas, creating a flame-like appearance and revealing regions of active star formation. Together, these nebulae offer a striking contrast between light and dark and are among the most frequently imaged deep-sky objects in the winter sky. [from general astronomy references]
Total image time was 17 minutes.
| Moon Phase | Waxing Gibbous |
| Exposure | 17 x 60 sec |
| Gain | 200 |
| Camera | ZWO SeeStar S30 [1920 x 1080] IMX662 |
| Optics | ZWO SeeStar S30 EQ mode [Focal length 150, Aperture 30 mm, f/5] |
| Guiding | NA |
| Controller | NA |
| Filter | Light pollution filter (OIII 30nm/Hα 20nm) |
| Location | Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. |
| Date | 2025-12-28 |
| Processing | Processed in PixInsight. |
|
| WeightedBatchPreprocessing Script [ 1x drizzle ] |
| BlurXTerminator |
| GraXpert |
| NoiseXTerminator |
| StarXTerminator |
| Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch on both the stars and starless images |
| HDRMultiScaleTransform on the Starless image |
| PixelMath to recombine the images |
| CurveTransformation |
|
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