Astrophotography

**Astrofest 2000 2nd Place Deep Sky Award**

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

Vixen 120 mm f/6.7 Refractor, Hypered Kodak PJ 400-35 minutes, and Hypered PPF 400 Film-50 minutes, combined and enhanced in Picture Window.

The Horsehead is a very dim target, one of the most challenging visual objects in the heavens. It is a dark nebula which partly obscures the bright nebula behind it. The brightest star in the photo is the eastern most star in the belt of Orion, Zeta Orionis, or Alnatik, "the girdle". The glowing mass on the left of the image is designated NGC 2024 and the bright reef featuring the Horsehead is known as IC 434. It is estimated to be 1,200 light years away.

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