Journey to the Trapezium

[Nighthound]

The stellar nursery within The Great Orion Nebula (M42) is known as The Trapezium. The four brightest stars form the shape responsible for the title. Shorter exposures help define this region due to its brightness. The first shot is a 20 second exposure taken with a 10" SCT telescope and my Canon 20D. The Trapezium cluster of stars in the center actually contains about 1,000 stars, most are very dim and relatively cool. The larger more bright/hot stars are responsible for the majority of heating and exciting of the gases of the Great Orion Nebula, giving us an amazing sight to see and photograph. The second shot is 30 minutes of exposure (again with the 10" SCT) which resulted in the Trapezium burning or hotting out. By overlaying a shorter exposure or patching the hot spot I was able to restore detail to that portion of the shot. The large circular shape with the bright star in the center in the upper left is M43.

Note: The star spikes in the first image were created by stretching fishing line in a cross hair position at the front of the telescope.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/test/trapezium-sctx.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/PS%20Gallery/m43xx.jpg

[Celestron]

Boy , those are close up Steve ! Very nice !

[Johnny9s]

Wow, great shots. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. I can't wait for the skies to clear to put all this new found info to use.

John

[Nighthound]

Thanks Ron and John.

John, you're welcome. Any time.