Astrophotography by Keith B. Quattrocchi


M42
Emisssion Nebula in Orion
Ha/RGB Image

Copyright 2021
Keith B Quattrocchi and Bray Falls

Image Acquisition Information  
                    
Telescope: 16" RCOS Richey Chretien Telescope (ion milled at f/9) 
Camera: ZWO Full Frame Back Illuminated CMOS ASI 6200 MM
Guiding: Starlight Xpress AO with UltraStar Autoguiding Camera (AO control using maxim DL software).
Filters: Astrodon LRBG, H-alpha, S-II and OIII Filters
Acquisition Programs: NINA, The SkyX, PHD2, PWI4
Processing Programs: PixInsight, RC Astro, CCDStack, Photoshop CS4
Date: Data processed on December 15, 2021.  Data acquisition: November of 2021                            
Time:  6 hours (10 minute exposures) for each of Ha/RGB for a total of 24 hours.                   

Image Information: M42, or the Orion Nebula, is a bright, easily visible stellar nursery located in the Orion constellation, about 1,344 light-years from Earth. It is known as the closest region of massive star formation to our planet, and can be spotted with the naked eye as the fuzzy "middle star" in Orion's Sword, which hangs below the prominent three-star belt. 

Processing Information  This Ha/SII/OIII images were obtained using  AstroDon filters.  The Ha/S-II/OIII images were batch processed (calibrated, registered, normalized and integrated) in PixInsignt.   Further stretching, high pass filtering and background smoothing was performed with Adobe Photoshop CS/4 and PixInsight.