Alnilam and Mintaka are two of the three stars of Orion's belt. Despite being Alnitak the best known thanks to the proximity of the Flame Nebula and Horse Head, there are so many interesting objects (mostly' little-known) located between these two other stars to deserve a deep shoot of the area.
Alnilam and Mintaka
The entire field is rich of HII emissions, dust and reflection nebulae. Alnilam (closer to the center of the photo) is a a blue supergiant, very hot and very bright, the most brilliant of the belt, located about 1,300 light-years away. Mintaka (top right in the photo) is a star system consisting of at least six members and the dimmest of Orion's belt stars, even if dim is a relative term as it shines at magnitude 2.2.
Near the upper left corner of the image lays the bluish reflection nebula Van den Bergh 48 and on its right, the sort of "jellyfish", is IC426, a reflection nebula relatively small in size that I consider very beautiful. Between Alnilam and Mintaka you see with ease another member of the Index Catalogue, IC 423, also called Teardrop nebula (though it resemble more a little ghost to me
)
On the bottom of this field spread LBN73, a mixture of gas and dust that overlaps the rich Ha emission.
Overall a great field often overlooked by astro imagers..
As usual I hope you like the image, full resolution view is recommended..
Clear skies
Marco