M78 (NGC 2068), Reflection Nebula

M78 (NGC 2068) is a diffuse reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It is located above (north) the belt of Orion and at the east end of the belt, above the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024). (TheSky Professional, Software Bisque).

M78 is the brightest of a group of nebulae that belongs to the Orion B Molecular Cloud Complex. It is located about 1600 LY from Earth and has a magnitude of approximately 8, which makes it visible through binoculars and small telescopes. (NASA Science, SEDS)

Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.

Imaging Details:

Observatory: Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile

Telescope: Planewave CDK24

Aperture: 610 mm (24 inches), f/6.5

Focal Length: 3962 mm

Camera: QHY 600M Pro CMOS

Filters: LRGB

Total Exposure: 8 hours 35 min.

Image Processing: 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.