The Great Orion Nebula can be seen with the naked eye as the middle “star” in Orion’s sword. It is one of the nearest stellar nurseries to Earth, lying at a distance of about 1,300 light-years. The nebula spans 24light-years. The group of four stars at its core is known as the Trapezium. This nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the sky, but imaging processing is challenging because the core is thousands of times brighter than the faint outer regions. This image is a composite of long exposures to show the faint outer regions and short exposures to reveal details in the core.

Telescope: Celestron Compustar C14

Camera: SBIG STL 11000 with Baader Planetarium LRGB filters.

Dynamic image with multiple exposures combined.