Heavenly Fire

The two brightest stars in this image are the two left stars of Orion's belt. The leftmost star (Alnitak) illuminates the cream-coloured Flame Nebula. The third brightest star, Sigma Orionis, located to Alnitaks's lower right, illuminates the red nebula to it's left. The small black mark intruding on the red nebula's left is the Horsehead nebula.

This image is a stack of 4 separate images, the longest being a 7.5 minute exposure at ISO1600. All were shot with a Canon Rebel T3i and a 300mm lens, riding piggyback on an 8" Meade LX-50 telescope.

Click to view the high-res version.

Thanks for any feedback. Enjoy!

The Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, shot with a 300mm lens on a

Rebel T3i, riding piggyback on a Meade LX-50. Thanks for any comments!

Beautiful work, Scott.  Inspirational to me.

Thanks Wayne!