IC 434
Horsehead Nebula in Orion

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 10 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15, Gain = 33 of 250

The Horsehead Nebula’s (Barnard 33) distinct shape appears quite readily against the ionized hydrogen-red backdrop of IC 434. The dark nebula is about 1400 light years away and 7 light years across. In this relatively quick snapshot (15 frames of 10 second exposures), the length of IC 434 spans about 50 arc minutes, the horsehead appears to be 5 x 4 arc minutes in size.

To the north (bottom-left ) is the bright star Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), which is the left-most star in Orion’s Belt. Alnitak is a hot blue supergiant at magnitude 1.74, about 1260 light years away. Below the Horsehead is the round clump of nebulosity NGC 2023, which is both an emission and reflection nebula and explains why there is a combination of red with blue-green colours reminiscent of the Trifid. NGC 2023 is 1300 light years away and appears to be about 3 x 2 arc minutes across.

North at 7 o’clock, East at 4 o’clock