NGC 2024, The Flame Nebula, burns brightly in Orion the Hunter. At right is the brilliant blue giant star, Alnitak, 28 times the mass of our sun. Shining with a brightness 100,000 times that of the sun, Alnitak, is actually a triple star system in which two smaller blue stars orbit the behemoth.
This false color image was formed from nine stacked frames of three minutes each binned 2 x 2, taken through narrow band Hydrogen alpha filter at focal length of 1480 mm, f/6.3. Image scale was 1.51. arc seconds per pixel.
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Equipment
- Imaging telescope / lens: Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain (SCT) 9inches
- Imaging camera: SBIG STF=8300M (CCD)
- Mount: Equatorial Celestron CGEM
- Guiding camera: SBIG STF=8300M (CCD)
- Filters: Astronomik H-alpha (Narrowband Hydrogen Alpha)
- Accessories: Focal reducer Celestron .63X
Frames / Subs
- Lights: 9 x 180 sec
- Total integration time: 27:00 min
Acquisition
- Camera sensor temperature: -20.0 ºC
Spatial Info
- Image Size: 1,440 x 1,810 pixels
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