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NGC 1977 - The Running Man Nebula in Orion
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Copyright 2009 Hap Griffin
NGC 1977, commonly referred to as the "Running Man" nebula, is a region of predominately blue reflection clouds of hydrogen in the Orion complex. It lies just north of M42, the great Orion Nebula. The region of dust near the bottom of the photo is the northernmost boundary of the M42 molecular cloud. Click here for a larger perspective. The dark lanes in front of the cloud give this region its name since they resemble a man running with outstretched arms.
NGC 1977 lies at a distance of 1460 light years.
Date/Location:
December 21, 2009 Griffin/Hunter
Observatory Bethune, SC
Camera: QSI 583wsg
Filters: Astrodon E Series Generation 2 LRGB
CCD Temperature: -20 C
Instrument: Planewave CDK 12.5" (first light)
Focal Ratio: f/8
Mount: AP-1200
Guiding: Auto via the QSI camera's built in Off-Axis Guider
mirror and a Starlight Express Lodestar Guider
Conditions: Clear and cold
Weather: 32 F, still
Exposure: 80 minutes total (35 min Lum, 15 min each RGB)
Capture: CCDAutopilot 4 w/ Maxim DL Camera Control, focused automatically w/
FocusMax
Processing: Frame calibrations, alignment and stacking with ImagesPlus v3.80.
LRBG compositing and finishing in Photoshop CS4.