Object Description: Located about 1500 light years away in the Belt of Orion, the Alnitak region contains a rich complex of emission, reflection, and dark nebulae. One of the most photographed objects in the sky, the Horsehead nebula (Barnard33) lies at the center of the image. It is backlit by a bright emission nebula, IC434. The image is oriented North left.

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106N
Camera: Canon 40D self-modified w/ Baader UV/IR cut filter
Mount: ParamountME unguided
Filters: none

Date Taken: 22NOV2009
Location: Lot4, Arcturus Way, Sacramento Mountains Astronomy Park, Weed, NM
Sky Conditions: transparency 4/5, seeing averaged 1.59 arcseconds for the night.
Image Acquisition: 20x300s, iso800 dithered using CCDCommander and CCDSoft.

Image Processing: ImagesPlus 3.80 used for grading, alignment, SigMed combine, initial DDP, color balance. PSCS4 used for levels, curves, and color enhancement. GradX for gradient compsation and background equalization. No darks, biases, or flats were used.