M78 by Rod Pommier

Messier 78 is a blue reflection nebula in Orion. It is located just a bit northeast of the stars in Orion’s belt and lies 1,350 light-years from Earth. M78 is the brightest reflection nebula in the sky and its blue color results from the scattering of light emitted from the bright stars in the nebula, just as how our atmosphere’s scattering of sunlight results in a blue sky. M78 is in the center of the image while blue reflection nebula NGC 2064 is peering out from behind dust above it, NGC 2067 is to its upper left, and NGC 2071 is in the lower left corner. The dark nebulae are part of molecular cloud L1630 in Orion. This region of the sky is rich in Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, newborn stars with bipolar outflows that strike the dark dust and cause it to glow red. HH 24 and HH25 mark the locations of stars just emerging from the dark nebula in the upper right corner.

Image Data:

Telescope/mount: CDK17 on L500 mount

Camera: SBIG STL 11000 with Baader Planetarium L,R,G, and B filters.

Exposures: L:R:G:B 235:75:75:75 minutes =7 hours 40 minutes total exposure, all completely unguided.