Terence Galuszka Astrophotography

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion's Belt, with the flame nebula to the left. The horsehead, also known as Barnard 33 in the bright nebula IC 434. It is a dark nebula in the located just below the star Alnitak on the left of Orion's Belt (right for us Southern folk!). It is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that includes Barnard's loop.

The Horsehead nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth and is one of the most well known and identifiable nebulae due to the swirling cloud of dust and gases that resemble a horse's head. The shape was first noticed in 1888 by Williamina Fleming on photographic plate B2312 taken at the Harvard College Observatory.

The red glow of the nebula originates from hydrogen gas that is being ionized by the bright star Sigma Orionis (SAO 132406). The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust, although the lower neck does cast a shadow. Streams of gas can also be seen leaving the nebulae and are funneled by strong magnetic fields. The bright spots in the Horsehead Nebulae base are young stars in the process of forming.

Visual observation of the Horsehead is not easy and requires dark skies and good contrast. Using a Hydrogen-beta filter is helpful. The red circles on the location charts below indicate position.

Close-up of Orion's belt as seen through 8x42 bino's under a dark sky.

The chart on the left shows stars the location of The horsehead nebulae in Orion's Belt. North is down (southern hemisphere view).

Table of the brightest Constellation stars. m is the apparent visual magnitude, spectral type indicated. Not all doubles listed.

 Technical Details

 Date

October 2009

 Location

Wellington New Zealand

 Optics

Celestron C11 OTA @ F2 Hyperstar, Guided using Orion SSAG and ST80 guidescope

 Mount

Celestron CGE

 Camera

Starlight Xpress SVXR-M25C

 Filters

Astronomik Hydrogen-beta CCD Filter, Hutech LPS filter

 Exposure

5x 30mins, 5 darks, bias and light frames. RGB Bayer Matrix extraction, best frames stacked.

 Acquisition

NexRemote

 Processing

MaxIm DL EE and Photoshop CS3