Messier 43 (De Mairans)

 Reflection Nebula

 In constellation Orion

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M43 is a HII region discovered by Jean-Jacques

Dortous de Mairan. It is located just below the

Great  Orion Nebula. M43 is located around

1,600 light years away and is 4 light years across.

It is estimated to be 20 million years old.

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RA 05^h 35^m 06.00^s

DEC -05° 16′ 00.0″

M42 has a magnitude (brightness) of 9.0

and its size is 20'.0 x 15'.0

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Imaging Scope : Takahashi Epsilon 160

Focal Length = 530mm [image cropped to fit]

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.