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 |
