The Running Man Nebula

[PhotonCollector]

Hello all,

Here is an image I did last night and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Paul Mayo
The Running Man Nebula - NGC 1973-75-77
Situated just North of the Great Nebula in Orion is the bright-bluish reflection nebula known as the Running Man Nebula.

The Running Man Nebula was given this nick-name after early astronomers saw that the bright-bluish reflection nebula surrounded a darker pinkish-coloured emission nebula whose outline appeared like the silhouette of a running man, particularly when observed through a telescope.

The Running Man Nebula reflects star-light back to Earth produced by the bright white-blue stars scattered in and around the nebula. Some of these stars appear still partially embedded in this star making nebula.

The Running Man Nebula appears to be part of the Great Nebula in Orion separated only by a thinning of the nebula which divides the two nebulae into separate celestial objects. In this darker region of less nebula (lower right area of image - South) those with keen eyes can see many interesting objects that include; wisps of nebulae with bright knots at one end, a small bright-yellowish nebula surrounding a star, and filamentary structure of the dark coloured nebula that reach toward the bottom of this image.

larger image: http://www.skylab.com.au/pmsa/ngc1977.html

Image Details
Field of View: ~45 x 33 arc-minutes.
Orientation: North is toward top-left of this image.
Telescope: 304mm f/5 reflector telescope, hand guided.
Camera: Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel.
Exposures:
3 x 2-minute exposures @ ISO200.
3 x 6-minute exposures @ ISO1600.
Total Exposure time: 24 minutes.
Sky Conditions Seeing: 9.5/10 (excellent seeing),
Wind: 1/10 Moisture: 1/10.
Ambient Temperature: guess < 20° C.
Notes:
used Baader Coma Corrector.
Gibbous Moon rising ends imaging session.

--
Paul

[RB]

I'm speechless Paul.

:eyepop:

[avandonk]

Only one word


Stunning!

Bert

[ving]

stunning paul! :D
just took a trip around your site, man your pics are good :D

[Dennis]

Very nice deep sky work Paul, very nice ideed. I must work up the courage to leave our Solar System targets and venture into deep space!

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

gee you are good!

[h0ughy]

Mr Alder wont be happy, you got one more up on him, thats fantastic. You know he is leaning more to a hutech camera with every passing day Paul! this might just drive him to go and order one

[atalas]

Very ncie Paul, has great depth in that shot . :)

[Soldant]

Wow, that's awesome! A superb shot. I should give up APOD and just look at the pictures here.

[Striker]

Thats one very nice Image Paul.....well done

Only chriticism and I am being padantic....I would have liked to seen it without a partial image of the orion....but thats just me.....the orion fully in or out of the picture not half in.

Listen to me.....I'm trying to sound like I actualy know something about Astrophotography...I better stop there before I make myself look really stupid...I do a good enough job looking stupid at star parties...hehehe

[gaa_ian]

Great Shot ... I was looking at this nebula through the 12" Dob last night
Very nice !

[tornado33]

yes very nice shot Paul. The red inside it is an indicator of a nice deep shot. Ive got some more faint planetaries around Orion earmarked, then theres Eta Carina and environs rising in the morning too, so much coming up but not a lot in the early evening sky at this time.
Id love to see what we could do with a modified camera :)

[PhotonCollector]

Thanks Rocket Boy

Paul Mayo

[PhotonCollector]

Thanks avandonk,

Even I was impressed with this image. It showed me a lot of unexpected detail, especially the dark brownish lane on the southern edge of the running man nebula. That was a surprise to me, as I haven't seen any images before which highlighted that part of the nebula is brownish-yellow, while the rest of the nebula is mostly bright bluish.

Paul

[PhotonCollector]

Geeday Striker,



Yeah I did think about cropping it off, however the idea of it remaining was for reference, so amateurs (incl. myself) know where the Running Man Nebula is in relation to the M42 nebula. Of course if I had included more of M42 in the frame, then it would have dreadfully overexposured.



That's alright :-)

Clear Skies

Paul Mayo

[PhotonCollector]

Hi h0ughy,

I don't think it will bother Mr Alder, we complement each other, not compete with each other.

Yeah it's only a matter of time before I self-modify my own camera, envitable.

Paul M.

[PhotonCollector]

Arrr, your too kind. Thank you.

I began this hobby a long time ago, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to share them with other interested people here on IIS.

I take the images so that I may look and see what's out there and then to show others like yourself, so I'm glad you liked looking at the image.

Paul

[RB]

Now that I found some words to say- Yes exactly, that's the first thing that impressed me too - the dark brownish lane.
Unbelievable.

Once again well done.

[Itchy]

Hi Paul,


That is absolutely stunning. Dare I say it: The best of your work that I have seen. Great depth and detail. Congratulations. :prey2: :clap: :thumbsup:

[PhotonCollector]

[QUOTE=Itchy]Hi Paul,




:-) Thanks.



Yes that thought crossed my mind.

Best Regards
Paul

[PhotonCollector]

Thanks tornado33,

Yeah, Eta C has caught my eye rising late at night. Keep up that great work with all those southern sky planetary nebula - looking forward to it.

Well I think it is nearly time I do something about my camera and modify it myself. It really doesnt seem that difficult, just a little treachorous.

What would be really super is if I could move the entire CMOS Sensor array into an air-tight chamber and use my thermo-electric cooler to cools things down (upto -35C below ambient).

I think you can now go buy one of these TEC coolers at Big W !!! in the form is an Esky which "refrigerates" itself via a TEC device. I think they cost around $80+, and i suppose you could disassemble it to get the TEC device out.

Anyhow thats just dreaming, but the filter removal/replacement for the EOS
might my a good new year project.

Best Regards & Merry Xmas
Paul