Unveiling the Horsehead Nebula in IC 434

Image Title: Unveiling the Horsehead Nebula in IC 434

Copyright: Luca Dinoi, Giulio Frugoni, Marcello Carrieri

Date image was taken: January 06, 2024

Location: Martina Franca

Image Description and Details: Ic434

IC 434 is an emission nebula visible in the constellation of Orion; thanks to its presence it is possible to observe the famous Horsehead Nebula, a dark cloud that overlaps it on our line of sight.
This is an H II region that extends south of Alnitak, on the southwestern edge of the large Orion B cloud; it has a very elongated shape in a north-south direction and receives the ionizing wind directly from the star σ Orionis, a bright member of the large Orion OB1 association.
The nebula reaches 70' in length and is easily shown in long exposure photos or CCD images, although its thickness is only a few arc minutes.

The temperature of the region was measured using various methodologies and exploiting various radiation ratios, initially obtaining values ​​between 8000 K and 7600 K;
subsequently this value was reduced to 3360 K and even less depending on the map taken as reference. A study on electronic temperature conducted in 1992 instead provided a value more similar to the previous ones, which is around 6000 K.

Equipment Details: Acquisition Telescope
Tecnosky APO Triplet 152/1216
Tecnosky APO Triplet 115/800
Newton 16" Carbon

Camera
Omegon VeTec 571C latest version, Omegon 571M and Player One Poseidon M pro

Mounting
iOptron CEM120

Homemade flat box, with Ascom 50x50 dimmer

Filters
Optolong L-Pro
Optolong L-Ultimate
Optolong LRGB HA OIII 3nm

Accessories
Primaluce Lab SESTO SENSO 2 • WandererRotator • Electronic control of anti-condensation bands • ZWO 7x2" filter wheel • Riccardi flattener 0.75x

Software
Adobe Photoshop · Astrometric STAcking Program (ASTAP) · iOptron ASCOM Driver and Commander · Planewave Platesolve2 · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Stark Labs PHD Guiding · Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)

Guiding Telescope
Omegon 90/500

Driving Camera
Asi Zwo 224MC

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