07 Feb 2026
The belt of Orion in the constellation Orion. This is a widefield image that shows much of the Orion Molecular Cloud. It is a rich star forming region.
The image that follows this image is the same image but annotated with the name of objects for reference.
To summarize the main objects of interest.
1. The belt of Orion, three stars in a diagonal to the left of center.
2. The Flame Nebula, NGC 2024, the pale reflection nebula, located at the bottom of the image, left of center.
3. The Horsehead Nebula, Barnard 33, the red emission nebula, located at the bottom of the image, left of center.
4. The Orion Nebula, M42, the bright nebula to the right.
5. The Running Man Nebula, sh 2-279, is to the left of the Orion Nebula.
Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.
Imaging Details:
Observatory: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Yass, Australia
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED
Aperture: 106 mm (4.17 inches), f/3.6
Focal Length: 382 mm w/ .73 field flattener
Camera: FLI ProLine PL16803 CCD
Filters: LRGB
Total Exposure: 21 hours 10 minutes
Image Processing:
2 panel mosaic, east and west
PixInsight 1.8.9-3 Ripley (x64);
BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);
Adobe Photoshop 25.12.1;
Adobe Lightroom Classic 14.2
Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.
Orion's Belt Mosaic
17 credit