"Flame Nebula -- NGC2024" 11/11/99 Kitt Peak, Arizona
(Image by Adam Block, Willis Greiner and Cheryl Price. Copyright NOAO, all rights reserved.)

This CCD image was obtained using a 16" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope operating at f/6.3. The camera used was a SBIG ST-8; sky chart software was Software Bisque's The Sky, acquisition and image manipulation software was Cyanogen's Maxim DL. Three 300-second exposures were taken and combined to form a raw composite image. Dark and flat-field exposures were taken and applied to the raw images. A maximum-entropy algorithm was then applied to the combined data, resulting in the final image shown here.

The Flame Nebula in Orion is a fine example of a diffuse emission-type nebula, much like the more famous Orion Nebula located in the sword of Orion. The Flame is located just to the left of Zeta Orionis in the belt of Orion. To many, these nebulae "create the single overpowering impression of primeval chaos, and transport the imaginative observer back to the days of creation. This irresistible impression is more than a poetic fancy, as modern astrophysics now confirms, for these nebulae are undoubtedly examples of the many regions in space where star formation is presently underway." (from Burnham's Celestial Handbook)

Click the image to view a larger version.