Name: Messier 78
    Other names:  
    Description: diffuse nebula
    Ascension: 05 : 46.7
    Declanation: +00 : 03
    Apparent diameter: 8*6 (arcsec!)
    Constellation: Orion
    Magnitude: 8.3
    Distance: 1600 ly
    Equipment: Meade ETX90+sc3 icx424 camera f/0.3
    Date / Time UTC: 19 december 2004 21:30
    Stacked : 60 of 320
    Exposure time: 30 s
    Location:

    The Hague, The Netherlands
    Other info:

    This one I was hunting for, for a long time. Finally.
    Good conditions! One of my best deep sky!

    M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky
    and is about 1,600 light years distant.
    As a reflection nebula, M78 is a cloud of interstellar dust
    which shines in the reflected and scattered light of bright blue
    (early B-type) stars, among them the brightest, HD 38563A,
    and second-brightest HDE 38563B, both of about 10th
    visual apparent magnitude.
    M78 measures almost 4 light years in extension.

     

    © Job Gehéniau

    http://www.jgeheniau.nl/etx90/astronomy2.html

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