M78

[Bodon (Steve)]

GDay all.
M78 taken between the trees and crap weather in my back yard from 25 Dec24 - 5 Mar 25.


One photo without Ha and one photo thrown in the mixer with some Ha tomato stuff thrown in.


M78 is a Reflection Nebula and is located roughly 1,600 light-years from Earth. It is the brightest reflection nebula in Orion and shines in a soft blue glow, thanks to starlight bouncing off surrounding dust clouds. It’s powered by a pair of young B-type stars, HD 38563A and B, and has dark surrounding lanes.


55xblue 45xgreen 48xred 70xLum 57xHa @300s 23 h
Flats: a bucket load as I pull down and setup each session.
Bias: 60
Gave the darks a miss.

Processed in Pixinsight.
Astrobin: https://astrob.in/snzeg8/B/


SW250PDS
2"Televue Paracorr
ZWO 2600MM
ZWO 174 Mini
ZWO Asiair Plus
ZWO OAG-L
SW AZEQ6
Optolong 3nm filters

[TrevorW]

Nice shot, are you looking to get a different camera, noticed you are selling your gear

[Bodon (Steve)]

Hi Trevor, glad you liked it.
I want to pull the remaining hair that I have left out If I manage to sell my gear and try a full frame.

[AlexN]

Thats BRILLIANT Steve - Just liked it on AB then found it here too!

I make an attempt at M78 every year, I'll stop when I get an image I like You've done a lovely job of it, the colour data on its own is lovely but the addition of Ha brings the background to life!

From a personal perspective, its upside-down

[Bodon (Steve)]

GDay AlexN
Thanks for the thumbs up; glad you liked it. I did get the AB message Ta. I think it gets missed a lot as the Horse head is the go at that time of year. There is a stack of Ha in this area for sure. I had to take the remaining subs quite low on the horizon due to weather to finish it this year. Funny you should say up side down; when I initially stacked it in WBPP, it was upside down. Too many satellite trails so I changed the integration settings. When I gathered a few more subs and re stacked it was the other way around. Had me stumped so I just left it as is.