02/25/2026
Hey all!
M42 The Great Orion Nebula is the closest star forming region to us in our milky way Galaxy, a mere 1344 light years away and a celestial beauty. Like many astrophotographers and astronomers, it was my "gateway drug" into the world of astrophotography!
One cold spring night 5 years ago, bored and looking for a hobby that was socially distanced, I stuck a DSLR on a tripod and pointed it at the fuzzy patch of light that makes up Orion's' sword, and I was hooked.
Since then, I've come back to it a few times, with various equipment and processing, color balance, etc.
Anyone who has photographed M42 will tell you it's easy to take a picture of, not so easy to process, due to the vast dynamic range. In this image I've tried to get everything from the Trapezium, the group, of 4 stars at its center, almost invisible unless you zoom right in, and actually the engine of stellar radiation pressure that drives this beautiful nebula, to the dust lanes and reflection nebulae on the margins.
Actually, there are several deep sky objects in this frame: towards the top of the image is NGC 1977 better known as the "Running man" nebula, it's blue reflection component showing a silhouette of a running man on a background of deep red ionized hydrogen behind it.
Between M42 and NGC 1977 is M43, also known as De Marian's' Nebula for French astronomer Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan who discovered it in1731. At its center a massive star is illuminating M43 and sculpting its landscape of dust and gas with its radiation.
There are a number of foreground stars caught in line of sight, but actually it's only 5 stars in this whole image primarily responsible for this massive colorful area.
So who "discovered" the Orion Nebula? although was first discovered as an extended, non-stellar nebula by French astronomer Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc in 1610, surely our ancient ancestors first noticed it in the pristine skies of the time, and of course it was incorporated into Greek and Roman mythology. It's still captivating all who gaze upon it.
Best regards,
Richard Whitehead
