The Orion Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha and an HaRGB Blend

Imaged from Nova Scotia, Fall, 2011 through a Canon 600mm f4.0 telephoto lens using a modified Canon T3i DSLR and a 6nm Hydrogen Alpha Filter.

Above is the nebula as usually photographed, in the light of RGB. It is from a stack of 70 one-minute exposures with a series of 5 second exposures blended to preserve some data in the very bright core.

Immediately above is the nebula in a combination of hydrogen alpha and RGB wavelengths. This image is the result of stacking 19 one-minute exposures in RGB and very lightly blended with 23 two-minutes exposures in the light of hydrogen alpha. An additional 22 five-second exposures were used to preserve some detail in the core area.

The above exposures were at f4.0 and ISO 800 on a modified Canon T3i DSLR.


The bottom image shows the nebula only in the red light of hydrogen alpha emission. It is the result of stacking several exposures through a 3nm Ha filter with a SBIG ST-8300M CCD camera. Very short exposures were blended with longer ones to preserve detail in the bright core of the nebula. The image was captured in central Florida from a light polluted city environment.

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