"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.
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