In between the Giants

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

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

[Spookyer (Brett)]

very nice Marco

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Very nice region of sky. So much going on. Well represented in your image.

[Ross G]

Beautiful photo Marco!

What amazing detail.

I love the colours and contrasts.

Ross.

[AstroJason (Jason)]

Incredible Marco, just an amazing image. Feels like you're floating in amongst the stars and subtle nebulosity. Great work!

Jason

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Wow Marco, lovely image, I particularly like the fact that you have galaxies in there too! I think you are producing the best small scope images in the World. So, if I win the lottery I will buy you (and I, but mine will be a little bit bigger of course ) a large aperture RC or similar so you can show the world how that's done too (oh and I will scramble a few together myself and try and stay with you ) Together we will be like Batman and Robin (Ill be Robin)

Mike

[Neil]

Well done Marco(batman)that's a fascinating image, good work, clear skies.

[jase (Jason)]

A fantastic "super hero" result Marco. Well done! You've managed the intensity of Alnilam and Mintaka exceptionally well. It certainly is a cool area of the sky. Its also much harder to do at longer focal lengths. I imaged the teardrop nebula a long time ago at nearly 4.8m FL and the reflections were a killer.

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

... Together we will be like Batman and Robin (Ill be Robin)

I would have thought the incredible hulk would have been more fitting Mike...but that would make you green and possibly with envy.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Great picture Marco. Surprising what wonderful stuff lies just off the beaten track.
Geoff

[Leonardo70 (Leonardo Orazi)]

Wonderful Marco ... beautiful colors !

You have made a processing that give a feeling of immense vastness. You're always a reference.

All the best,
Leo

[RickS (Rick)]

Very cool, Marco! A stunning image that must have been a major exercise in dynamic range management.

Cheers,
Rick.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by jase

I would have thought the incredible hulk would have been more fitting Mike...but that would make you green and possibly with envy.

Yeah Marco would be like a God ...

Nah, would be all amore' Marco

[dvj (John)]

Marco, Your color work/processing is top shelf. Gold standard I aspire too now that I've taken a wee bit of interest in color. Subtle coloration, exceptional dynamic range and depth in your images are always a pleasure.

jg

[multiweb (Marc)]

Really cool shot Marco. Superb processing.

[gregbradley]

I am often surprised at how you get new and unusual shots from the same setup. Very clever. Nicely processed and those big powerful stars really are the focus of the image. I nice take on a well imaged area and putting a different focus on what is the subject.

Greg.

[ralph1]

Is the apparent lack of nebulosity around Alnilam a coincidence or an actual bubble of clear space caused by the star?

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Apologies for the late reply (I was in a trip), thank you all for the nice comments!

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Wow Marco, lovely image, I particularly like the fact that you have galaxies in there too! I think you are producing the best small scope images in the World. So, if I win the lottery I will buy you (and I, but mine will be a little bit bigger of course ) a large aperture RC or similar so you can show the world how that's done too (oh and I will scramble a few together myself and try and stay with you ) Together we will be like Batman and Robin (Ill be Robin)

Mike

Originally Posted by jase

A fantastic "super hero" result Marco. Well done! You've managed the intensity of Alnilam and Mintaka exceptionally well. It certainly is a cool area of the sky. Its also much harder to do at longer focal lengths. I imaged the teardrop nebula a long time ago at nearly 4.8m FL and the reflections were a killer.

I would have thought the incredible hulk would have been more fitting Mike...but that would make you green and possibly with envy.

Haha, Mike, I agree with Jase that perhaps Hulk is more fitting you, but noo, not green, you can still have a cape and a mask if you prefer doing superhero in the night

Thanks for the comment to both of you, I would love to vae a larger scope but still long wait before I will upgrade, however it may be sometime next year .. and definitely I will try to get it a bit smaller than mike, after all, not always size does matters
About reflections, have to say that I didn't have much, just a very small one you can see close to the stars core but nothing not manageable. My scope/camera/filters combination is very good now after I replaced the camera optical windows a couple years ago with a new one with very good anti reflections coating.. no more issues since than

Originally Posted by dvj

Marco, Your color work/processing is top shelf. Gold standard I aspire too now that I've taken a wee bit of interest in color. Subtle coloration, exceptional dynamic range and depth in your images are always a pleasure.

jg

Thanks John, big merit to PixInsight, it is a manna to color balance astro images Happy you are journey into the RGB realm, a bit different than narrow but still fascinating (and than you will have to merge the best of the two worlds )

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I am often surprised at how you get new and unusual shots from the same setup. Very clever. Nicely processed and those big powerful stars really are the focus of the image. I nice take on a well imaged area and putting a different focus on what is the subject.

Greg.

Thanks Greg, happy you liked it, I used the same framing of an image I took of the same area few years ago but better sky (and better processing experience now) helped a lot to substantially improve the result

Originally Posted by multiweb

Really cool shot Marco. Superb processing.

Thanks Marc

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Yeah Marco would be like a God ...

Nah, would be all amore' Marco

No war , just love and peace

Originally Posted by RickS

Very cool, Marco! A stunning image that must have been a major exercise in dynamic range management.

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick, I just had to add some more contribution from RGB than luminance to preserve the color on the big stars, apart from that it was in reality easier than what you would imagine..

Originally Posted by Leonardo70

Wonderful Marco ... beautiful colors !

You have made a processing that give a feeling of immense vastness. You're always a reference.

All the best,
Leo

Thanks Leo! You always nice..

Originally Posted by ghsmith45

Great picture Marco. Surprising what wonderful stuff lies just off the beaten track.
Geoff

Thanks Geoff, not to off the beaten path, just about a couple degrees in this case

Originally Posted by Neil

Well done Marco(batman)that's a fascinating image, good work, clear skies.

Originally Posted by AstroJason

Incredible Marco, just an amazing image. Feels like you're floating in amongst the stars and subtle nebulosity. Great work!

Jason

Thanks Jason, happy you like it!

Originally Posted by Ross G

Beautiful photo Marco!

What amazing detail.

I love the colours and contrasts.

Ross.

Thanks Ross

Originally Posted by Astroman

Very nice region of sky. So much going on. Well represented in your image.

Yep, ditto, a lovely area just not enough popular.. thanks for the appreciation!

Originally Posted by Spookyer

very nice Marco

Thanks you too!

Originally Posted by ralph1

Is the apparent lack of nebulosity around Alnilam a coincidence or an actual bubble of clear space caused by the star?

Hi Ralf, possibly a bit you are right, but most of the reason is due to the strong glare of the stars that cover subtle nebulosity in the area. I attach for your reference a crop of Mintaka region from the Ha image below, as you can see there are some faint nebulae quite close to it (this Ha crop is quite stretched and dirty)..
Ciao
Marco