Horsehead and Flame Nebulae (Barnard 33 and NGC2024)


This was one of my first successful targets and this version was captured in late 2012 to get the benefit of the better equipment (and maybe skills) I have acquired since the early days. This was captured at a dark sky site, but using a narrowband hydrogen-alpha filter for the red channel.

The Horsehead is a “dark nebula”, meaning that the shape we see is formed by clouds of dust blocking light from behind it. It is located in the constellation Orion. The brightest star seen here (Alnitak) is the left side of Orion’s belt. The nebula is about 1,500 light years from Earth.

The Flame Nebula is part of the same larger structure as the Horsehead, but it emits light from ionized hydrogen gas energized by the nearby star, Alnitak.  

Scope: AT111EDT at f/5.6
Mount: AP Mach1
Camera: QSI 583wsg at –20C
Exposure: H-a/G/B, 2 hrs total


About Greg Marshall

I am a retired electronics engineer and after a few months of enjoying my leisure I began to miss doing product development. My astronomy hobby always needed new solutions to unique problems, so I decided that whenever I came up with a good solution I would try to make it available to others.

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