M42 last night

Last night I could enjoy a really clear night sky at Manaluna Observatory. Meanwhile some of my partners were working hard to complete the Messier Marathon, I took 3 series of no-tracking shots through Vixen 12×80 binocular to M42 in Orion.

The truth is that what I could see through binoculars was much more brilliant and detailed than the next image by far. I think my Casio Exilim digital pocket camera is a bit insensible to dim light …

Trapezium is visible as a spot. The 20″ separation among its components is too close for my binoculars to resolve it. Remember that 20″ is the apparent diameter of Saturn.

M42 through binoculars

M42 is the brightest nebula in the sky. It becomes visible even under light polluted urban skies. I took some exposures of M42, the Great Nebula of Orion, using my Vixen 12×80 binoculars and stacked them up. No tracking, even manual. Just shift-and-add method. This is the result; up to magnitude 12 stars are visible and the core of the nebula is also evident: