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Description
The horsehead nebula is one of the most iconic deep sky objects due to its striking resemblance to a stallion's head. While the the horsehead nebula is difficult to see visually, it is easily captured in imaging due to the deep red glow of ionised hydrogen in the background. Adjacent to the horsehead is the brighter flame nebula, which can be picked up visually with greater ease. The bright star in the middle of the two objects is Alnitak, and is one of the stars of Orion's belt. To the top left corner of the image, we see Alnilam, which is the central star of the belt.

This image is a composite of both narrowband and broadband data. While narrowband images can be easily created under heavy light pollution, broadband colour images (through red, green and blue filters) are strongly affected by the city lights. In this case, a composite was created to leverage on the true colour offered by broadband filters, and the deep detail from narrowband imaging.

Like the recent Carina Nebula upload, this is a reshoot of a target that I have done before, but with better resolution and exposure depth.

Imaging details:
Location: Singapore
Date(s): Jan & Feb 19
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130 GTX at f/4.5
Camera: Atik 16200M, Baader HaRGB Filters
Mount: Losmandy G11/G2
Exposure: RGB: 35 min, HA: 3.5 hours

Description
The horsehead nebula is one of the most iconic deep sky objects due to its striking resemblance to a stallion's head. While the the horsehead nebula is difficult to see visually, it is easily captured in imaging due to the deep red glow of ionised hydrogen in the background. Adjacent to the horsehead is the brighter flame nebula, which can be picked up visually with greater ease. The bright star in the middle of the two objects is Alnitak, and is one of the stars of Orion's belt. To the top left corner of the image, we see Alnilam, which is the central star of the belt.

This image is a composite of both narrowband and broadband data. While narrowband images can be easily created under heavy light pollution, broadband colour images (through red, green and blue filters) are strongly affected by the city lights. In this case, a composite was created to leverage on the true colour offered by broadband filters, and the deep detail from narrowband imaging.

Like the recent Carina Nebula upload, this is a reshoot of a target that I have done before, but with better resolution and exposure depth.

Imaging details:
Location: Singapore
Date(s): Jan & Feb 19
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130 GTX at f/4.5
Camera: Atik 16200M, Baader HaRGB Filters
Mount: Losmandy G11/G2
Exposure: RGB: 35 min, HA: 3.5 hours