Almost every lover of the night sky will recognize the majestic constellation of Orion. However, Orion is also a huge attraction for astrophotographers, because deep scanning across the visible spectrum can reveal the extremely colorful and complex glowing and reflective molecular clouds that are located in this direction of our Galaxy. On November 10, 2024, the great astrophotographer Jakub Kuřák of the Czech Republic carefully captured a map of these clouds, which we then combined with my earlier hydrogen nebula data and together we created this unprecedented portrait of a well-known constellation.
Colorful Orion
Dominating the mosaic in the upper left is the bright orange star Betelgeuse, a red supergiant that will likely one day explode as a supernova. In the lower right of the bright blue giant Rigel, you can see the structures of the nebula, nicknamed by no one other than the Witch’s Head. In the left part, there is a prominent arc of glowing hydrogen, which bears the name of Barnard’s Loop after its discoverer. In Orion’s head lies the giant Angel Fish Nebula. Well, Orion’s belt of three stars Alminam, Alnitak and Mintaka is completed from the left by the Flame Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and of course the majestic Great Nebula in Orion’s sword. An image of a combination of several hours of imaging of data in different parts of the visible light spectrum.
Used Canon 6D modified & Samyang 135mm/f2, 4 panels of 80x30s, ISO 1200 ISO (Jakub Kuřák, from Tanvaldský Špičák, on 10 November 2024) and Canon Ra, Samyang 85mm, f2, Astronomi H-Alpha 12mm Narrow Band, ISO 3200, 2 panels of 70x30s (Petr Horálek, from Soneva Jani, Maldives, on 3 November 2024, tracked on Vixen Polarie U).
