Messier 42&43

 Diffuse Nebula

 In constellation Orion

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M42 is one of the brightest nebulas and is the

nearest star forming region to Earth. It is located

 around 1,270 light years away and is 24 light years

 across. It is estimated to be 20 million years old. M43

is the leaf like object below the main nebula.

NGC 1977 (Running Man Nebula) is shown bottom left.

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RA 05^h 35^m 17.30^s

DEC -05° 23′ 28.0″

M42 has a magnitude (brightness) of 3.0

and its size is 65'.0 x 60'.0

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Imaging Scope : Takahashi Epsilon 160

Focal Length = 530mm

Imaging Camera : Canon EOS 350 DSLR

EQ6 Pro GEM Mount

Guide Scope : William Optics Megrez 80FD

Guide Camera : GSTAR-EX Video

Autoguided using GPUSB & Metaguide

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32 x 120 second exposures [64 minutes]

at ISO 800. Imaged during 1/4 moon lit skies

Baldrine, Isle of Man, British Isles.

21:30 on 11/02/2008.