Daily Telescope: The sword of Orion contains a brilliant reflection nebula

It is November 6, and we're looking toward one of the most prominent constellations in the Northern Hemisphere's night sky.

The Orion constellation likely needs no introduction, but for readers who are not astrophotographers, the Running Man Nebula may be less well-known. It can be found in the top-most part of Orion, in the "sword." This is a reflection nebula in that it consists largely of clouds of interstellar gas that reflect the light of nearby stars. The nebula is relatively close to Earth, as celestial objects go, at 1,500 light-years away.

The brightest part of the nebula was discovered by the German-British astronomer William Herschel in 1786—he often collaborated with his brilliant younger sister, Caroline.

The photograph was submitted by David Beverly, who lives in El Cerrito, California, just north of Oakland. Beverly told me he used a William Optics GT81 telescope and a QHY168C CMOS camera. To create this photo, Beverly captured 35 three-minute sub-exposures for the light shots and an equal number of dark shots and other calibration frames. The effort, I'd say, was worth it.

Have a great Monday.

Source: David Beverly.