The Horsehead and Flame nebulas

A dark cloud in the shape of a horse’s head set again a lane of red dust, with a bright start to its left. Below that bright star in the frame is the Flame Nebula, dark tendrils against a light orange/brown cloud reminiscent of flame.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the Orion area over the winters (one always tries to capture a better Orion Nebula, after all), but I’ve never spent much time tring to capture the Horsehead or Flame nebulas.

My worries were always that I don’t have enough H-alpha sensitivity, or I’m worried that Alnitak would overpower any sufficiently long exposure. Those were always poor excuses.

Well, I decided to try it as the first outing with my AT115EDT and Losmandy GM-8G. And boy did it go well! So well that I tried to get more exposure time in a second session.

Frames
70
Time
70m
Gain
ISO 1600
Exposure
60s
Telescope
Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm f/7 ED Triplet Refractor w/ 0.8x Reducer/Flattener
Mount
Losmandy GM-8 German Equatorial Mount, Gemini 2, Losmandy FLW Tripod
Camera
Canon EOS 6D Mark II
Guider
Orion StarShoot Autoguider
Accessories
ZWO EAF Electronic Automatic Focuser, iOptron iPolar
Software
BackyardEOS, PHD2 Guiding, SkySafari Pro, AstroPixelProcessor, Topaz Photo AI, Capture One
Chart
/astrophotography/nebulas/ic434-chart.png