This is the brightest part of the huge nebula complex in Orion. It is a star nursery and young stars illuminate remaining gas and dust in that region which is pretty close to our solar system: only about 1350 light years away.

This image was taken from my location above the city lights of Winterthur without any filter. And it was the first picture I gave a try with PixInsight … and the result was amazing. Stars were so bright that I reduced the exposure time down to 60 seconds in order to avoid pixel saturation.

Acquisition Details

Scope: Borg 90FL/500 with 1.08x Flattener
Filter: None
Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC Pro
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
Guiding Scope: MiniBorg 50
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI 290MM
Guiding Software: PHD2
Acquisition Software: APT
Light Frames: 67x60sec
Flats, Dark Flats, Bias, Darks
Camera settings: Gain 100, Offset 20
No moon
Bortle 4-5
Acquisition Date: Mar 3, 2021

Processing

Stacking Software: DSS
Imaging: PixInsight