It was a reasonably clear night sky yesterday evening, and in spite of the cold conditions, and the howling gale whistling through the trees at the bottom of the garden, I thought I’d seize the opportunity to do a spot of astro-photography,
The constellation of Orion is prominent in the night sky at this time of year, and so I decided to focus on the Sword of Orion just below the Belt.
The fuzzy looking star in the middle of the three prominent stars that make up the sword is the Orion Nebula, and is always a point of fascination for me.
The Orion Nebula, or M42 is approximatly1,500 light years away making it the closest known large star forming region from Earth, and is estimated to be 24 light years across.
Although my camera couldn’t hope to compete with more high end equipment, I was still pleased to see some of the red and purple hues of the star forming gas clouds.
Ad astra per aspera
Another circuit round the Sun for the Lord of Sword! Looking even more youthful than ever, I wonder if you've discovered time travel while you're at it!
