SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Hal Heaton
Location of Photo:
Chilescope (Telescope 3)
Date/Time of photo:
December 26, 2025 and February 6, 2026
Equipment:
Telescope: ASA (astrosysteme 500 field-corrected Newtonian), f/3.86; Camera: FLI Proline 16803 (front-illuminated CCD, anti-blooming, unbinned, guided, 300-s exposures); Filters: Astrodon RGB and H-alpha (50-mm square); Mount: ASA DDM85 equatorial.
Description:
Southeastern Orion from the Orion (M42) and Running Man (Sh 2-279) Nebulas at the upper right toward Orion's right foot, comprising the blue supergiant star Saiph (kappa Orionis) at the lower left. A segment of Barnard's Loop swoops down from the upper left, glowing initially in the reddish light of ionized hydrogen but turning more brownish in color as it becomes entrained with patchy dust along the southern edge (bottom) of the frame. The Orion A molecular cloud lies in the region between the two, which is the most active star forming area in the solar neighborhood. The subframes used to make the image were processed using PixInsight software with additional repositories from various 3rd party software developers, including commercial products from RC-Astro, and Photoshop.
