The Sword of Orion is a
fascinating area in any telescope or binoculars you can muster. I
created the labeled photograph below from a shot I took with a 135mm
lens. So, let’s get started with observing one of the most
famous places in the sky.
M 42 is easily one of
the most observed objects in the sky. Recently in the Deep Sky forum
I said that I had a “750 hour exposure” of this object.
It is located inside my head, so I can’t show it to you, but I
can try and describe it. Using a 6" f/6 Maksutov-Newtonian at
40X there are 31 stars involved in this nebulosity, including the 4
seen in the Trapezium. This is a spectacular object with many subtle
changes in brightness and form. Light and dark areas intertwine and
the entire loop of nebulosity is seen, up and over the bright area
around the Trapezium. Adding the UHC filter makes the nebula have
more contrast, but gets rid of many subtle variations and delicate
star groupings, I like the un-filtered view better. Raising power
with the 14mm UWA eyepiece shows off some of that delicate structure
better and brings out the dark "Fish Mouth" area near the
Trapezium shows more contrast. Going to the 8.8mm UWA shows off
several orange stars in the nebula and splits the Trapezium, the E
and F members are glimpsed 20% of the time. All in all, a "WOW!!!"
object, first class.
On a night I rated 9/10
for transparency at a very dark site in the Arizona desert the center
of the Sword of Orion is fuzzy to the naked eye. In my 11X80 finder
the "batwings" feature of the nebula is obvious, with the
western side brighter. Going to the 13" Newtonian scope at
100X, the nebulosity is larger than the 30' field of view. All 6 six
stars in the Trapezium section are seen and a background of very
faint stars embedded in the nebula are at the limit of averted
vision. The area around the Trapezium in very, very mottled, like
storm clouds. The dark marking called the "fish mouth"
appears three dimensional. The dark area is obviously in front of
the nebulosity. The dark lane extends beyond the nebula to the NE.
Raising the power to 220X will hold 10 of the faint stars in the
nebula steady. The central region around the Trapezium has "rays"
of nebulosity that extend into the darker region to the south. The
Trapezium stars are contained within a "hole" in the
nebula, it appears that these stars lit off and blew away the
material nearby. At all powers, the nebula is a pale lime green and
has pink fringes where the nebulosity is brightest. Overall a
spectacular object that no photograph or drawing can truly capture.
NGC 1977 got it’s
nickname, the Running Man, from photographic images. The one below
is from Chris Schur. For a visual observation I used a 6" f/8
refractor with a 14mm eyepiece and no filter. The nebula is seen as
pretty bright, large and has an irregular figure. The dark lanes
that create the “Running Man” are low contrast but across
the entire nebulae. So the Running Man figure is seen, but not
easily. Overall the nebulous glow fills half the field of view and
has 19 stars involved; six of those stars are at the limit of the 6
inch.
NGC 1981 is a scattered
cluster of pretty bright stars. Six of those stars are pretty easy
in my little 8X42 binoculars. Moving up to the 6" f/8 with a
14mm eyepiece shows this cluster as bright, large, scattered and has
24 stars resolved. The cluster includes two prominent double stars,
one with a separation of about 5 arcseconds, the other is a matched
pair on the west side, and they are both about 11th magnitude and
separated by about 8 arcseconds. A bit of nebulosity from the Orion
Nebula “leaks” over to this cluster.
M 43 is a detached
portion of M 42 that has a curved figure like a fat comma. It can be
seen in the small binoculars with one star involved.
With the 13 inch on a
great night comma shape is obvious and in general the nebula is
bright, large and has several stars involved, one of 9th magnitude
and 2 stars of 11th magnitude. Raising the power to 150X shows
several dark striations in the nebula and brings out a faint star
right at the tip of the comma shape.
NGC 2024 is a nebula
near Zeta Orionis. Because of the large, parallel dark lanes,
Arizona astronomers have taken to calling NGC 2024 the "Tank
Tracks" Nebula. In general it is a bright, large and
irregularly round nebula. The dark lanes are easy in the 6 inch at
80X from a dark site. There is more detail to see in the dark lanes
if you use 150X or so and get the bright star Zeta out of the field
of view. Then some averted vision will show the thin dark lanes that
are perpendicular to the thicker lanes.
IC 434 and B 33 is a
much-photographed region that includes the Horsehead Nebula (B 33).
IC 434 is a faint streamer of emission nebula that is south of Zeta
Orionis. The Horsehead is a dark nebula that blots out a portion of
IC 434 in the shape of a mare's head. Using a Nexstar 11 with a 14mm
eyepiece, there is a small notch in the IC 434 nebulous streamer.
This nebula is low contrast, so the Horsehead just shows up as a
missing section of a very faint glowing band. It can only be seen on
nights of excellent contrast. Even then it is visually
“underwhelming”.
I have had easier
observations of the Horsehead nebula, but nothing like a good image,
like the one below from Chris Schur.
Collinder 70 is the
designation for the stars in a around the Belt of Orion. The 8X42
binoculars and a lounge chair make for comfortable observing. There
are many bright stars in and around the Belt; one very prominent loop
goes in between the Belt stars on either side of the central Belt
star. There are some easily seen dark nebulae within this area. The
6” refractor and a 35mm Panoptic eyepiece shows an amazing
field of view. There is a spray of about 100 stars out from the
middle that include looping chains and several stars that are orange
in color. This is a rare field with many bright stars of 5, 6 and
7th magnitude.
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