IC434/NGC 2024 - The Horsehead & Flame Nebulae
Sat Mar 08 2025
It’s been so long since I’ve been able to do anything related to astrophotography, I was sincerely afraid that I wouldn’t remember how to do it! It’s been cloudy here for the last 4-5 months with only about 3 clear nights. I took advantage of a clear night a few nights ago and remembered that it’s essentially galaxy season so my wide-field set up isn’t ideal right now but my galaxy set up is still having issues. Hopefully that will all be resolved soon. Since I didn’t have a plan or many options out there for this setup, I went with an old favorite just to get back familiar with the process and thankfully it came back to me relatively quickly. This is only an hour of total exposure time with an Ha filter but I did the best I could do with such low integration time.
About this object
- Type
- Emission Nebula
- Constellation
- Orion (the Hunter)
- Apparent magnitude
- 11
- Apparent size
- 90.0′ × 30.0′
- Catalogue designations
- IC 434
The Horsehead Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion (the Hunter). It shines at about magnitude 11 and spans roughly 90.0′ × 30.0′ on the sky.
Acquisition
- Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 36 mm: 21 × 3m (1h 3m)
- Total integration: 1h 3m
Equipment
- Telescope / Lens: Astro-Tech AT72EDII
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Mount: Celestron CGEM II
- Filters: Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 36 mm
- Guiding scope: ZWO 30mm Mini Guider Scope
- Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224MC
- Accessories: Astro-Tech .8X Reducer for F6 (ATR8), ZWO EFW 7 x 36mm
- Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
Astrophotography by David Joyce, AstroDavido.