Alnitak & The Flame Nebula

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Alnitak & The Flame Nebula

[Public Domain] 20 Mar 2015 Dylan O'Donnell
CATEGORY : Astrophotography
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The flame nebula is a beautiful emission nebula that, like a middle sibling, always seems to play second fiddle to its immediate neighbours, the famous Horsehead nebula and the bright blue brilliance of Alnitak. The multiple star system itself is like a battery for the nebulas glow, its solar winds charging the dust clouds much like the Auroras we’ve seen recently in the southernmost parts of Australia.

My astrophotographer friends will immediately notice the poor collimation in this photo that warps the starshine because my secondary mirror isn’t aligned correctly, which is my fault! It’s a nice view of the nebula itself though so I’m glad I got a chance to capture it before the clouds and moon roll back in again and this target goes out of view for the winter months.

Celestron 9.25″ SCT / F6.3 Focal Reducer / QHY12 CCD / 6 x 300s Exposures + Dark Frames

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