M42 The Great Nebula

Processing Data:	Object Info:
Negatives - January 1999	The "Great Nebula" in Orion is likely the most photographed deep space object there is. It is considered one of the most beautiful objects in the sky and is one of the finest examples of a bright diffuse nebula. The Orion nebula is also an object that has a distinction of resolving more detail in observation of the central region as compared to photographs. This is due to the typically burned out central core in longer exposure emulsion pictures. However, newer techniques of masking the central core and combining short and long exposures have enabled large amounts of detail to be brought out in pictures, that also have the long exposures necessary to enhance detail in the diffuse regions. The Nebula shines at magnitude 5 and has enough surface brightness that (greenish) color is actually visible in larger telescopes. This is the frequency spectrum most easily resolved with the human eye. The Trapezium central core of stars includes the 4 main A,B,C and D, stars, in addition to companions E, and F. There are also stars G and H, only visible in very large telescopes in the Trapezium area. Bright Nebula NGC 1977 is also visible as the familiar companion to M42, and would not it be for M42, would likely garnish greater specific photographic attention.
Meade 5" ED Refractor F/9
216XT Autoguider
Pentax K1000 Body
Fugi Super G 400, Unhypered
2 x 15 min./2 x 40 min. Exposures
Image Stacking in Picture Window
Digital Enhanced (levels) in Photoshop

Processing Info: This is a later processed version of negatives shot in early 1999, first shots with the Meade 5" ED Refractor, camera, mount and autoguider combination. This the latest processing of the same negatives using full raw scans, and the latest in Astro-Processing techniques including Jerry Lodriguss Blur Filter Unsharp Masking, Mike Cook Film Grain Noise Reduction, Blending Method Composing in Picture Window, and Jerry Lodriguss Method 2 for Combining 2 Exposures to Hold Detail. BGSmooth DNR not used, manual method maintained better control.
Object Details Courtesy Burnham's Celestial Handbook, Robert Burnham, Jr. (1978 Dover Publications)