Orion the Hunter

Image Details:

Orion is a Winter constellation which sits in the outward-facing band of the Milky Way (opposite in our sky to Scorpio). As such, it contains a variety of popular targets for astrophotographers throughout its molecular cloud complex. A large section of this can be seen as the magenta semi-circle on the left (which is called Barnard’s Loop) and the brighter series of nebula seen below the leftmost of the 3 belt stars in the middle. This area includes the famous Orion Nebula (Messier 42) and the Horsehead + Flame region. The Witchhead nebula was also captured in the lower right, a reflection region scattering light from the bright star Bellatrix. Betelgeuse, a red giant star reportedly ready to go supernova anytime now (read as: within the next 100,000 years), is seen in the upper-left.

I shot this during an outing to capture Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF at a campground I often use as a Dark Sky site. While my main camera was focused on the comet, I set my RP and 135mm on this area, adjusting the angle every few hours to capture most of the constellation across a 3-panel mosaic.

EQUIPMENT:

• Rokinon 135mm f/2 at at f/2.8

• Canon EOS RP

• iOptron Skyguider Pro

EXPOSURES:

• 196 x 120” at ISO 800 (6h 32m total)

MISC DETAILS:

• Processing Software: PixInsight

• Taken from: Fall River State Park, KS, Bortle 2

• Capture Dates: 22-23 January, 2023