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| Horse head and Flame Nebula: |
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The constellation of Orion is an area rich in beautiful nebula, and here you can see several of them. 1500 light years away, and next to Alnitak the left hand star of Orion's belt, is a large faint nebula known as the Flame Nebula. To the lower right it is one of the most identifiable nebula in the sky, the Horse head Nebula. These images appear big bright and colorful, but in fact these nebula are extremely faint. It's only by using a long exposure that they can be brought out. Your eye can only see the light that enters it from moment to moment, and even though your eye is many times more sensitive than a camera's photo detector (or photographic film in the old days), it would take a scope several times larger than the one I use in order to come close to being able to see as much detail as you can see here. |
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4" F5 refractor, Canon 300D at Prime focus |