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Name / Constellation

M 78

 Other:NGC 2068, Ced 55u, vdB 59

Ori
Coordinates AR: 05h 46m 45,8s - Dec: +00° 04′ 45″
Optics Takahashi FSQ 106N APO Fluorite F5 - 60/220 guiding refractor
Camera-Mount SBIG STF8300M - Orion StarShot Guider - 10Micron GM2000 QCI Mount
Filters Baader LRGB
Exposure
  • Lum
  • Red
  • Green
  • Blue
  • 13 x 900 sec - 3 hours 15 min
  • 10 x 600 sec - 1 hour 40 min
  • 10 x 600 sec - 1 hour 40 min
  • 10 x 600 sec - 1 hour 40 min
  • UNBINNED
  • BINNING 2X2
  • BINNING 2X2
  • BINNING 2X2
Location / Date Promiod (Valle D'Aosta-Italy) "TLP" Remote Observatory - 29 jan 2019
Seeing About 2.5" @ 2.1 arcosec/pixel unbinned
Note  
Acquisition MaxIm DL - CCD Autopilot 5
Processing Adobe Photoshop CS6 -
Comment

Messier 78 or M 78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that includes NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex and is about 1,350 light-years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th and 11th magnitude. These two B-type stars, HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light.The M78 cloud contains a cluster of stars that is visible in the infrared. Due to gravity, the molecular gas in the nebula has fragmented into a hierarchy of clumps, the denser cores of which about to form stars with masses of up to  5 M☉. About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation as well as some 17  Herbig–Haro objects are known in M78.