Help locating the Horse Head Neb

BlackWidow (Mardy) · #1 30-12-2010, 05:08 PM

Well I now at last have my De-Rotator setup as well as my Wedge in the waiting. I am having fun getting my first images using my De-Rotator. It is very rewarding when you see images coming to life on your computer..

Last night I did some imaging of the Great Orion Neb. It is difficult to get good colour without over exposing the bright center. Might need to mod the 300D or find out what filters I can use to reduce the star brightness so I can stack and balance the image..

Anyway I thought I would have a go at the Horse Head but was not able to locate it. My LX200GPS said it was on the location and by what I have read it was in the said location. However even with over a 60 Sec exposure at ISO 1600 I could find no neb at all, just nice stars on a plain background.. I am not sure if this Neb is easy seen in visual terms via a 25mm eypiece on a 10" LX200? Kept doing little adjustments in the hope I would find it. If I should be able to see it in the eyepiece that will help me before putting the camera on. When I goto other objects like I did with Orion, the scope seems to put the object in the view so I thought I would be on target with the Horse Head. I was also using a focal reducer at the time at F6.3. Any advice would be great

Seeing Stars
Mardy

Logieberra (Logan) · #2 01-01-2011, 11:39 PM

Rcheshire's pic should held:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=70022

Daveskywill (David) · #3 26-03-2011, 03:11 PM

The Horsehead is to the south of the left-most star in Orion's belt (Alnitak). AKA Barnard 33 or IC434. Hope this helps. David.

tlgerdes (Trevor) · #4 26-03-2011, 04:56 PM

Can you post what you have?

60sec @ 1600 is still not really going to be enough without stretching it to max. I would be looking for 180sec+ to get decent data.

gbeal · #5 26-03-2011, 08:41 PM

While not completely disagreeing with Trevor, I felt an exposure of the duration you have tried should have shown it.
Try a couple of things though.
Try an Ha filter, it shows beautifully with one.
Try also to "align" and synch on a bright nearby star, Alnitak would be perfect, then slew/goto to the Horsehead (can't recall it's proper designation, IC 433???).
Keep at it.
Gary

erick (Eric) · #6 26-03-2011, 08:44 PM

IC 434 (or Barnard 33) - and you will struggle to see it visually through your scope.

joecool (Mark) · #7 24-04-2011, 05:22 PM

To give some idea of brightness, a 5min exposure with 10" f6.3 LX200 and 450D will not show it from my back yard. It needed 3 x 10 minutes and it is still about the same brightness as the background noise so LOTS of stretching needed to bring it out, and unfortunately that brought out lost of dust donuts and shocking vignetting! Bought a lightbox to fix that in future...

Mark.

Mighty_oz (Marcus) · #8 24-04-2011, 07:30 PM

If u haven't got it get Ron Wodaski's CCD Calc program it's free and that will give u an idea as to how big your image will be. Even at f6.3 and pointing at Alnitak near the HH it will be just out of view. But with a 140mm lens at 60 secs i can just make out the HH with lots of stretching with an unmodified camera, so u should be able to see it with yours if it's in the image.

Marcus.

Stigandi (Rob Stinson) · #9 24-04-2011, 08:01 PM

The horsehead is a very dim object. If you get Alnitak in the field of view, horsehead will likely be in the view with most scope setups. There is a much brighter nebula next to Alnitak called the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). That should show up in most images, even if the exposure is too short for the horsehead.

Rob