Messier 78 (NGC 2068)
Reflection Nebula in Orion

Click image for a larger view

  M78 is a star forming region located in the Orion constellation made up of interstellar dust. The blue reflection is caused by the hot Type-B stars HD 38563A and HDE 3856B. M78 (NGC 2068) also includes reflection nebulas NGC 2071 (top left), NGC 2067 (center right), and smaller NGC 2064 (lower right). Together with some other nebulae, including NGC 2024 near Zeta Orionis (commonly called the Flame Nebula), all these nebulae are associated with the molecular cloud LDN 1630. Distance is estimated to be 1600 light years and size about 4 light years.

Location & Date Backyard, Abbott Observatory - Jan. 1 & 24, 2009
Temperature - Low 30's F
Telescope TMB 130SS Refractor, F/7 on a Losmandy G11, Prime Focus, Image scale 1.68 arcsec/pixel
Camera SBIG ST-2000XM w/CFW8, AO8
Astrodon Tru Balance LRGB Filters
CCD temp -15°C
Exposure Times (L) 12 X 10, (R) 6x10, (G) 6x10,(B) 6x10 Minutes, Bin 1x1
Other Information Image acquisition/focus/guiding/dither - CCD Autopilot4 w/CCDSoft
Focus - Moonlite Motorfocus w/FocusMax
Image Processing * Images Plus 3.75a- Calibration, Grading, Normalize, Alignment, Mix Max Excluded Average Combine, R/L deconvolution, N/R, mild DDP
* Adobe CS4 - L+RGB combine, Levels, Curves, Sharpening, Cropping, NR, JPEG conversion

© 2009 Michael A. Siniscalchi