Messier 78 in Orion

[SkyViking]

Hi All,

Finally a new image from me. :D
I have been busily collecting data on several objects during December and January, but did not have time to process it all until now.
I've always liked the appearance of the somewhat overlooked Messier 78, so I decided to seriously tune in on it this season. This was a bit of a marathon effort since Orion goes behind the trees on the hill NE of my place around 1 hour before transit, so every night I had to wait for it to get dark enough and then squeeze in some imaging before it was too late. All up I gathered frames for this over eight different nights with around 13 hours of data in total.

Link to large (2.5MB) image (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Nebulae/25312426_jC3jWq#!i=2316004015&k=kJGMv5W&lb=1&s=X3)

Image description:
Messier 78 is a spectacular reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It is located just to the north east of Orion's Belt at a distance of about 1500 light years. The area comprises the nebulae NGC 2064, NGC 2067, NGC 2068 and NGC 2071.
In the centre of Messier 78 lies two bright stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, which cause the illumination of the area's dense clouds of gas and dust. The nebula is mostly blue due to the reflection and scattering of light from the young bright stars, but this light is reddened significantly in places where complex patches of thick dust clouds obscure the scene.
Throughout the image several Herbig-Haro objects can also be seen, especially towards the upper left. These are small reddish irregular patches of nebulosity caused by jets shooting out from newborn young stars within the clouds.
Also visible in this image is McNeil's Nebula (http://messier.seds.org/more/m078_mcneil.html), discovered by amateur astronomer Jay McNeil in 2004. This nebula appears to be illuminated by a variable light source, most likely a young stellar object that is undergoing outbursts from time to time. Previous images of Messier 78 do not show the nebula, except one taken in 1966. The frequency of this objects variability is currently unknown.
Messier 78 is part of the large Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also includes the famous Orion Nebula itself (Messier 42/43), Horsehead Nebula, Flame Nebula, Barnard's Loop and several other objects as well as the Orion OB1 Association of hot giant stars.
Despite its overall visual splendour and striking appearance the nebula appears somewhat overlooked though, probably due to Orion's many other prominent objects of interest drawing the attention of astrophotographers.

Image details:
Date: 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 19th December 2012 and 1st, 4th, 5th January 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 525:82:84:75m, total 12hrs 46mins @ -29C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

I hope you enjoy this vista, I think it's one of the prettiest areas in Orion and I'm glad to have captured it now.

Regards,
Rolf

[Larryp]

Wow, Thats magnificent, Rolf! Love the detail and colours:)

[alistairsam]

Thats beautiful Rolf
Do you bin RGB at 2x2?

[naskies]

Very nice, Rolf! I always look forward to seeing your images as I know they'll be interesting, beautiful, or usually both ;)

[Stevec35]

Another great image Rolf - well done!

Cheers

Steve

[Enrique]

Beautiful object, great image.

Enrique

[prokyon]

Wow, great exposure time and a very nice result with a lot of details!

[marc4darkskies]

That's gorgeous Rolf!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Rich in detail & colour which looks spot on. It's a difficult target too!

Cheers, Marcus

[LewisM]

I have tried M78 many times, but with my 102mm refractor, it takes a LOT of subs! Many more than the data you got :) My best effort was a smudge so far :)

I want to try it, it's just one that get's frustrating

[gregbradley]

Very dramatic Rolf. It looks like a celestial bushfire!

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

I know what a tough target this is to image. Very faint and requiring quite long subs, although with your extra aperture this would have been less of a problem.

You have very nice detail showing with excellent colours and a more appealing field of view than I got. Some minor noise present (understandable given the dimness of te dark dust) and what looks like some tilt on the right hand side. A selective mask to control both with make for a absolutely superb image.

All that said, I really like this image and it looks very similar to Martin Pugh's fine image. Lovely work Rolf and nice to see your work again.

[Ken]

Hi Rolf great image plenty of detail and colour, this is my current imaging project also.
clear skies Ken.

[RickS]

A lovely image, Rolf. Well done!

[strongmanmike]

Hey Rolf this is lovely, the colours are beautiful, well done. I won't point out the obvious little things because I imagine you are well aware of them :)...and they don't prevent the image from being very pleasing on the eye :thumbsup:

Mike

[DavidU]

Nice.:thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Gorgeous!! Can't stop looking at it. :)

[allan gould]

Great dedication and a superb image. Can't say more than has been said by others.

[Leonardo70]

Wonderful image...congrats.

All the best,
Leo

[midnight]

Thoroughly enjoyed this image Rolf. Fantastic and thanks for showing us.

Darrin...

[alan meehan]

a wonderful image of a very difficult target Rolf,well done
AL

[CoolhandJo]

Very nice rendition!

[RobF]

+1 what Dave said - thinking same and saved me typing it :)

[Ross G]

A beautiful photo Rolf.

Ross.

[SkyViking]

Thank you Larry :)


Thanks Alistair, yes RGB is binned 2x2.


Thank you for your kind words Dave, I'm glad you found it interesting :)


Thanks very much Steve :)


Thank you Enrique :)


Thank you Werner, the exposure time really helps for this target as it is quite faint.


Thanks a lot Marcus, I'm glad you liked the colours. Most renditions I've seen actually tend to be mostly blue with hardly any reds showing, but I believe there is quite a lot of reddish hues in the area due to the dust. It certainly was prominent right out of the camera.


Thanks Lewis, good luck with your attempts - it's a beautiful target but needs quite a lot of exposure :)


Thank you Greg, indeed it does :lol: There is so much going on around M78, it's an interesting nebula for sure.


Thanks very much Paul. I actually hink the scope has come slightly out of collimation due to some testing and accudental bumping I did recently while measuring up for my upcoming new 12.5 inch scope (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=98823). I re-collimated it just the other night, but unfortunately too late for the stash of data taken during Dec-Jan :)


Thank you Ken, glad you enjoyed it :)


Thanks Rick :)


Thank you Mike, glad you liked the colours. As mentioned to Paul I re-collimated the scope recently, hopefully that should put things right again. :thumbsup:


Thank you David :)


Thanks JJJ, glad you enjoyed it. I like this nebula too, I'm happy that I managed to grab it this season.


Thank you Allan, much appreciated.


Thanks Leo :)


Thanks Darrin :)


Thanks Al, yes it's not an easy one because it's rather faint.


Thank you Paul, I'm glad you enjoyed my take on this one. :)


Thanks Rob :)


Thank you Ross :)

[stevous67]

Hello Rolfe,

Out of your recent images, I really like this one of M78. The object being faint makes it more difficult, and I too like your colour scheme - very nice.

Regards,

Steve :thumbsup: