Photo of the Week for April 15, 2016

Any list of the finest deep-sky targets in the entire sky — north or south — would have to include the Orion Nebula. Catalogued as M42, it’s simply an amazing sight whether you view it in basic binoculars or the biggest backyard telescopes. And though it’s a tremendously popular subject for astrophotographers, every photo is slightly different. The effects of sky conditions, equipment choices, imaging techniques, and perhaps most importantly, the processing tastes of the individual photographer, all contribute to the final portrait.

This particular rendering is from Martin Bernier, who imaged M42 from his home in Saint-Liboire, Québec. Martin’s photo does a nice job of showing the faint, outer expanse of the nebula, while retaining detail in the bright core region. He used a QSI 683wsg-8 cooled CCD camera attached to an Astro-Tech AT12IN imaging Newtonian reflector telescope. The final image was shot through six different filters for a combined exposure of 242 minutes.