![[Image: m78flattened-1.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i132.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq9%2Fjryates%2Fm78flattened-1.jpg)
Messier 78 Nebula complex, a part of the much larger Orion Nebula complex
From SEDS:
Messier 78 (M78, NGC 2068) is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky, situated in the rich constellation Orion.
This object was discovered by Pierre Méchain in early 1780. Charles Messier added it to his catalog on December 17, 1780.
M78 belongs to the Orion complex, a large cloud of gas and dust centered on the Orion Nebula M42/M43, and is about 1,600 light years distant. It is the brightest portion of a vast dust cloud which includes NGC 2071, NGC 2067, and very faint NGC 2064. Together with some other nebulae, all these nebulae are associated with the molecular cloud LDN 1630 (from Lynds' Catalogue of Dark Nebula), a part of the Orion complex.
As a reflection nebula, M78 is a cloud of interstellar dust which shines in the reflected and scattered light of bright blue (early B-type) stars, among them the brightest, HD 38563A, and second-brightest HDE 38563B, both of about 10th visual apparent magnitude. The nature of M78 as a reflection nebula was discovered by Vesto M. Slipher of Lowell Observatory in 1919 (Slipher 1919), by the investigation of its spectrum: M78 exhibits a continuous spectrum, which resembles that of the bright stars enlightening it. At its distance, M78 measures almost 4 light years in extension.
NOTE: I continue to have focusing problems that I think is due to my camera not seating properly in the focuser. Will have to investigate this.
Image:
10x5 minutes for a total of 50 minutes at ISO 1600
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, Dark Subtracted
Processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Taken on December 8, 2010 at the Louisville Astronomical Society Observatory, in Curby, Indiana
Equipment:
200 mm f5 Konus Newtonian with Baader coma corrector and UV/IR cut filter
Losmandy G11 Gemini GOTO mount on Heavy Duty Tripod
Orion Shorty Autoguide Scope with Starshooter autoguider
'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
