I was finally able to get around to working on all the images I took on the 12th of the great nebula in Orion. The following image is a composite of images taken at intervals of 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 2 minutes for a total exposure time of 50 minutes. The reason for the different exposure times is that the core of the nebula is exceedingly bright and tends to get washed out in long exposures, while the faint, wispy reflection nebulosity and the deep colors of the emission nebulosity require longer exposures. By combining and processing the exposures in a complex procedure, I managed to preserve most of the detail of the core (including the trapezium stars) while bringing out a lot of faint details in the extended portion of the nebula. It isn't perfect (the seeing was also poor but you take what you can get), but it is my best effort with this object to date:
![[Image: Messier42_02_12_2011b.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i132.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq9%2Fjryates%2FMessier42_02_12_2011b.jpg)
Taken at the Louisville Astronomical Society Observatory on 02/12/2012
Messier 42, in Orion
Taken at the Louisville Astronomical Society Observatory on 02/12/2012
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
