New Image (1/1/2012)

NGC 2023 and Horsehead Nebulae in Orion.  The constellation Orion is home to many different reflection and emission nebulae, the best known of which is M42, the Great Nebula.  The second most photographed feature in Orion is the Horsehead Nebula, which does resemble its namesake (or perhaps a Knight in a chess set).  In contrast to the dark nebula highlighted by the background emission nebula of IC 434 is NGC 2023.  This nebula lies in the dark cloud and is powered by a very hot B-type star which is carving our the surrounding dust and gas.  For more information about NCG 2023 see Rob Gendler's description.  A bit further west (to the left on this image) is IC 435, another reflection nebula.  For another view see Steve Martin's image.
My image was made from December 24 & 25, 2011 with exposures in LRGB in the ratio of 95:105:105:95 for a total of about 7 hours. The data were acquired with an STL11000 and ASA 10N on an AP900 GTO mount and stacked in MaximDL.   Final processing  was done in  Photoshop. 

Astro Images 2011- a retrospective set to music.
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