M78
Reflection nebula in Orion

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
Exposure = 7-13-20 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15-15-45 (75 total), Gain = 6 of 250

One of the few reflection nebula in the Messier catalog, M78 (also known as NGC 2068 and “Casper the Friendly Ghost” nebula) is the brightest portion in the image here, spanning about 7 or 8 arcminutes and 3 light years across. The blue nebula is powered by the two bright blue stars at its center. M78 is about the same distance as the Orion Nebula, 1350 light years away, and also part of the Orion molecular cloud complex.

West (right) of M78 is a faint vertical bar, NGC 2067, and then south of that NGC 2064 is the faint oval puff-ball near the bottom of the image. These, and NGC 2071 which is the nebula near the top of the image (with bright double-star at center) are all connected by partially illuminated and dark dust clouds, some of which you can see cutting across parts of each nebula, creating darker rifts in the background glow. A portion of that background glow is due to light pollution, having stretched the data it is difficult to remove entirely with post-processing without losing some of the details.

North at 1 o’clock, East at 10 o’clock

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
Exposure = 7-13-20 sec, Live Stacked frames = 15-15-45 (75 total), Gain = 6 of 250

Revisit of the previous image, only this time post-processed to more aggressively remove the background while increasing contrast on the brighter portions of the nebula. More detail is evident within M78.

North at 1 o’clock, East at 10 o’clock