Wide‑Field Astrophotography of Orion: Horsehead, Flame, and Orion Nebula in RGB + Hα

 Two clear Sundays in a row ...

Orion is one of the most popular constellations for astrophotography. With showpiece objects like the Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, you can’t go wrong pointing your telescope there on the few clear winter nights we get. Sunday, March 1st was forecast to be clear, so I slewed my telescope to the central spine of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex — framing the Horsehead/Flame region and the Orion Nebula (M42/M43), with the Belt stars Alnitak and Alnilam anchoring the field.

The Moon was nearly full that night, so I used my Optolong L‑eXtreme filter to tame the bright sky. The following Sunday, March 8th, was also clear, but this time the Moon didn’t rise until after midnight. That gave me a chance to capture the field in broadband RGB with no filter. The final image is a composite of the RGB data from March 8th and the Hα extracted from the dual‑narrowband data from March 1st.

Image 1: RGB + Ha image of the central spine of the Orion molecular Cloud Complex

RGB + Ha image of the central spine of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex captured from my backyard on 3/1/2026 & 3/8/2026.

What is it?

This field captures the central spine of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, one of the richest and most active star‑forming regions in the night sky. The combination of bright emission nebulae, dark dust clouds, reflection nebulae, and massive blue stars makes this area a favorite for both astrophotographers and professional astronomers.

Image 2: Annotated image

An annotated version of the image.

Prominent Objects in the Field

Horsehead Nebula (B33) - The Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, is a dark nebula silhouetted against the red glow of the emission nebula IC 434. Its dense dust cloud blocks the background light, creating the distinctive horse‑head shape that makes it one of the most recognizable objects in the night sky.

Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) - The Flame Nebula is an emission nebula next to the leftmost star in Orion’s Belt, Alnitak. Dark dust lanes cut through the bright emission region, and smaller branches of dust radiate outward, enhancing its resemblance to a flickering flame.

Orion Nebula (M42) & De Mairan's Nebula (M43) - M42 is arguably the most popular target for amateur astronomers (both visual and astrophotography).  This area is a bright H II region and an active stellar nursery. M42 is a massive star forming region and is (astronomically speaking) relatively close to the Earth. M43 is just north of M42. M42 and M43 are separated by a dark dust lane.

Running Man Nebula (Sh 2‑279) – The Running Man is a combination of emission and reflection nebulae located just north of M42 and M43. Bright blue starlight reflects off surrounding dust while faint H II emission fills the background, creating the distinctive “running” silhouette that gives the nebula its name. 

Alnitak and Alnilam - Alnitak is the leftmost star and Alnilam is the middle star in Orion's belt. Both stars are bright Type O/B stars. 

How big is it?

For reference, the Moon has an apparent size of 31 arcminutes.

Horsehead Nebula (B33) - The Horsehead Nebula has an apparent size of 6 x 4 arcminutes on the sky with an actual diameter of 2.8 light-years (ly). 

Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) - The Flame Nebula has an apparent size of 30 x 30 arcminutes on the sky with an actual diameter of 7.1 ly.

Orion Nebula (M42) & De Mairan's Nebula (M43) - M42 has an apparent size of 85 x 65 arcminutes on the sky with an actual diameter of 34.7 ly. M43 has an apparent size of 20 x 15 arcminutes on the sky with an actual diameter of 10.2 ly.

Running Man Nebula (Sh 2-279) - The Running Man Nebula has an apparent size of 40 x 25 arcminutes on the sky with an actual diameter of about 15 ly.

How far is it?

Distance estimates for the Nebulae in this image range from 1,260 to 1,600 ly from Earth.

Alnitak is about 740 ly and Alnilam is about 2,000 ly from Earth.

How to find it?

Refer to the red rectangle in the finder chart below. 

Let's start with the easiest objects to find, Alnitak and Alnilam. Alnitak is the leftmost star and Alnilam is the middle star in Orion's Belt. Both Stars are visible with just your eyes, and can be seen from just about anywhere.

Just below Orion's belt are three stars (maybe 2 depending on light pollution and sky conditions) known as His Sword. M42 is the middle "star" in the sword. Visible to the naked eye (light pollution and sky conditions depending) as a fuzzy star. Easily observed in binoculars and telescopes. 

The Horsehead is "easy" to find but very difficult to actually see (visually). Think of trying to see a black smudge on a black tablecloth. Although it is difficult to visually observe, it is relatively easy to image. To visually observe the Horsehead Nebula, a 10" or larger telescope, H-beta filter, and dark skies are required. The Horsehead is located about 1 degree south of the bright star Alnitak (the leftmost star in Orion's belt). 

Image 3: Finder Chart

Finder chart for the field.

Processing:

My goal with this image was to preserve natural star colors from the RGB data while using Hα to enhance the emission structures in IC 434, the Flame Nebula, and the extended nebulosity around M42. The workflow below reflects that balance.

Narrowband Workflow:

Linear Processing: 

• Gradient removed with MSG. 

• The narrowband image was aligned to the RGB image with Star Alignment. 

• The registered image was cropped using Dynamic Crop and the instance of the process was saved to the desktop so it could be used to duplicate the crop on the RGB image. 

• BlurXTerminator was used for deconvolution

• The stars were removed with StarXTerminator. (The narrowband stars were not saved)

• Noise was reduced with NoiseXTerminator. 

• The image was made non-linear with Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch. 

Non-linear processing: 

• The image was separated into the R, G, & B channels using Channel Extraction. 

• The R image was used as the Ha image and the B & G (Oiii) images were discarded.

RGB Workflow:

Linear Processing: 

• Gradient was removed with MSG. 

• The image was cropped to duplicate the narrowband images with the saved instance of Dynamic Crop.

• BlurXTerminator was performed in correct only mode. 

• Color calibration was performed with SPCC.

• BlurXterminator was used for deconvolution.

• The stars were removed (and saved) with StarXTerminator.

Starless linear processing:

• The image was made non-linear with Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch.

Starless non-linear processing: 

• The toolbox CombineHawithRGB script was used to blend the Ha into the RGB image.

• I used the CreateHDRImage script to tone down the core of the Orion Nebula.

• Image blend was used for sharpening by using the high pass filter. 

• CT was used to enhance color and color saturation.

Star Processing:

• Stars were stretched with Seti Astro's Star Stretch script.

• CT was used to enhance color and saturation.

Final Blend

• The stars were screened back into the starless image with PixelMath. 

Image Details:

Narrowband Image:

Capture Date: 03/01/2025

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Askar FMA180 Pro

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme

Mount: Sky-Watcher USA EQ6-R Pro

Exposure: 45 exposures @ 180 sec each for a total exposure of 2 hours and 15 minutes. All exposures were captured at Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -20°C each.

Software: NINA, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, and PixInsight

RGB Image:

Capture Date: 03/08/2025

Location: Eden, NY

Telescope: Askar FMA180 Pro

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: N/A

Mount: Sky-Watcher USA EQ6-R Pro

Exposure: 108 exposures @ 60 sec each for a total exposure of 1 hour and 48 minutes. All exposures were captured at Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -10°C each.

Software: NINA, SharpCap Pro, PHD2, and PixInsight

Total Integration Time: 4 hours and 3 minutes

Clear Skies!

Ernie

A Deeper Look at M1: Discovering the Crab Pulsar in My Own Data

 And back we go to Super Bowl Sunday at the BMO ...

The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the night sky—but during the processing of this image, I realized I had captured something I didn’t expect at all: the Crab Pulsar itself.

On Sunday February 8, 2026, while I and another member were imaging the Horsehead and Flame (click here for that post) with the Tele Vue NP101is, our observatory director was imaging M1, The Crab Nebula on the Celestron 14" Edge HD. He was imaging with UV/IR Cut filter. This is a broadband filter, it is sometimes referred to as a luminance filter. I processed that data into an RGB or broadband image. This standalone RGB image is the second image in this post, because I was able (with help) to combine the RGB data with some narrowband data we collected in 2024.

On February 3, 2024 we captured data on M1 with the same telescope, a different brand camera with the same sensor type, and a dual narrowband filer that only captured the light from Hydrogen-alpha (Ha) and Doubly Ionized Oxygen (Oiii). Click here to view that post. After processing this dual narrowband data, I separated this image into separate Ha and Oiii images. The Ha and Oiii data was then combined with the RGB data from 2/8/2026 to produce this RGBHaOiii image.

Image 1: RGB + Ha+ Oiii Composite

RGB plus HA and Oiii image of M1. A combination of data from 2026 and 2024.

Image 2: Standalone Broadband RGB

The RGB (broadband) image of M1 from 2/8/2026 at the BMO

Going down a Rabbit Hole 

I was reading an article on Universe Today on the Pulsar in the Crab Nebula on the Universe Today website (click here to go to the article). In the article there was a visible light image and the Crab Pulsar was visible. I had no idea the Crab Pulsar could would be detectable in an image. Could it be in the image of M1? 

Identifying the Crab Pulsar in my Image

I fired up PixInsight and visually compared my image to the image in the article. I was able to match up the stars in my image with the stars in the image in the article. There is a script in the Seti Astro grouping of scripts in PixInsight that identifies objects in your image. The script is called "What's in my image". It uses the astrometric solution of the image to identify the objects contained within it. I was able to create a search area around the star that matched the Crab Pulsar in the image in the article. The script, it confirms this is the Crab pulsar (see screenshot below). 

This is very exciting! I never imagined it was possible to capture the Crab Pulsar with amateur equipment! The Crab Nebula and the Crab Pulsar have been important objects to astronomy and astrophysics. I remember first learning about them as a child from Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series and the companion book. To have not only captured the nebula (expected) but to have have also captured the Crab Pulsar is very exciting to me. 

Image 3: Screenshot from "What's in my image" script. 

A screenshot from PixInsight of the What's in My Image script result showing the Crab Pulsar. 

Image 4: Inset indicating location of Crab Pulsar in the image

This cropped and annotated inset indicates the location of the Crab Pulsar in the image.

Observatory

Both sets of images were captured at the Buffalo Astronomical Association's (BAA) Beaver Meadow Observatory (BMO). The BMO is located about 45 minutes southeast of Buffalo, NY in rural farm country. Our club's observatory is on the property of the Buffalo Audubon Society, near their Trillium Nature Center. We hold monthly Public Nights at the observatory on the first Saturday of the month, April through October. Note: July's Public night has been moved to July 18th as the 1st Saturday in July is Independence Day. 

Both the RGB and narrowband images of M1 were captured with our Celestron 14" Edge HD shown in the photo and video below. 

Image 5: Picture of the telescope used to capture the images of M1

Our club's Celestron 14" Edge HD Telescope on the Astro Physics AP1200 mount.

Image 6: A short video of the telescope slewing

What is it?

M1 is a supernova remnant. Humans observed the Supernova when it occurred in 1054. It was recorded by Chinese astronomers, and it appears that the event is also depicted in Petroglyphs in Arizona and New Mexico. The Chinese astronomers referred to it as a "Guest Star". it was visible during the day for 23 days and was visible at night for 653 days. The supernova also left behind a stellar remnant known as a Pulsar. The Crab Pulsar rotates 30.2 times per second. The nebula is expanding at a rate of 1,800 km/sec.

Image 7: An annotated version of the image of M1

An annotated version of the image of M1.

How big is it?

This object has an angular distance of 6 x 4 arcminutes (1 degree is 60 arcminutes) on the night sky. The object is 13 x 11 light-years (ly) across. 

How far is it?

It is located about 6,300 light-years (ly) from Earth in the Constellation Taurus.

How to find it?

This object is relatively easy to find. It's very close to the bright star Zeta Tauri in the constellation Taurus. Refer to the finder chart below. This is a great visual target. It can be seen in binoculars and small telescopes. Dark skies help as it is it can get lost in light polluted skies. Larger aperture helps significantly. Although visible in smaller instruments, I believe it is far more interesting to observe in large aperture scopes. Nebula filters can aid in viewing this object.

Image 8: A finder chart for M1

Finder chart for M1.

Processing:

In short, the workflow involved many of the usual processing elements gradient removal, deconvolution, noise reduction, star separation, narrowband blending, and final HDR balancing with blending in the narrowband data to the RGB data. Detailed steps follow for those interested.

I was able to process both the RGB and the narrowband images into pleasing images separately. I struggled with getting a good result when trying to combine the Ha and Oiii from the narrowband image with the RGB image. I reached out to my friends at the YouTube channel AstroWorld TV for help. They invited me on and we worked on processing the image on the episode 503 of the show. I did make a few minor edits after the show as the image appeared too bright when viewed on devices other than the laptop I processed it on. Thank you to the team at AstroWorld TV for their help! Especially Super Dave!

Image 9: A screenshot of YouTube episode 503 of AstroWorld TV

The RGBHaOiii image of M1 was processed with help from my friends at AstroWorld TV.

Narrowband Image:

Gradient removed with GraXpert. The narrowband image was aligned to the RGB image with Star Alignment. The registered image was cropped using Dynamic Crop and the instance of the process was saved to the desktop so it could be used to duplicate the crop the RGB image. BlurXTerminator was used for deconvolution and the stars were removed with StarXTerminator. We did not save the narrowband stars. Noise was reduced with NoiseXTerminator. The image was made non-linear with Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch. Non-linear processing: The image was separated into the R, G, & B channels using Channel Extraction. The R image was used as the Ha image and the B & G images were averaged together to become the Oiii image. We tried performing Continuum Subtraction on the Ha & Oiii images, but did not get good results.

RGB Image:

Gradient was removed with GraXpert. The image was cropped to duplicate the narrowband images with the saved instance of Dynamic Crop. BlurXTerminator was performed in correct only mode. color calibration was performed with SPCC. BlurXterminator was used for deconvolution. The stars were removed (and saved) with StarXTerminator. Starless linear processing: The image was made non-linear with Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch.

Starless non-linear processing: The image blend script was used twice to blend in the Ha and Oiii to the RGB base image. Image blend was used for sharpening by using the high pass filter. CT was used to enhance color and color saturation.

Stars: Stars were stretched with Seti Astro's Star Stretch script. CT was used to enhance color and saturation.

Final: The stars were screened back into the starless image with PixelMath. After the show, I viewed the image on several devices and decided it was too bright. I used the CreateHDRImage script to tone down the core. 

RGB Image Details:

Capture Date: 02/08/2026

Location: Beaver Meadow Observatory (North Java, NY)

Telescope: Celestron 14" Edge HD w/0.7x Reducer

Camera: OGMA AP26CC

Filter: OGMA 2" UV/IR Cut

Mount: Astro Physics AP-1200

Exposure: 19 exposures at 300 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -25°C each for a total exposure of 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Software: NINA, PHD2, and PixInsight

Narrowband Image Details:

Capture Date: 02/03/2024

Location: Beaver Meadow Observatory (North Java, NY)

Telescope: Celestron 14" Edge HD w/0.7x Reducer

Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro

Filter: Optolong l-eXtreme 

Mount: Astro Physics AP-1200

Exposure: 13 exposures at 600 sec / Gain 100 / Offset 50 / -10°C each for a total exposure of 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Software: NINA, PHD2, and PixInsight

Conclusion

What began as a routine multi‑wavelength image turned into a reminder of how much is still hidden in our data. With careful processing and a bit of curiosity, even well‑known objects like M1 can still surprise us.

Clear Skies!

Ernie