The_Green_Ninja's photostream  

Latest version of M42 - and the Best! This one actually looks like the picture in my junior encyclopdia of space (as used by Holly - the supercomputer from Red Dwarf).

Still to fix - need to get the space a bit darker and reduce some of the noise banding, CA is also an issue as it's shot with a refractor.

This was 48 x 20 second exposures stacked with 20 flats and 20 darks. Tweaked in lightroom.

Now for the science bit. M42 is just one part of the larger structure known as the Orion Molecular Cloud, which contains several other nebulae (including the horsehead nebula). This is the remanant of a past supernova and is now forming new stars as the cloud collapses under gravity (don't worry this process takes a long time, it'll still be there tonight). The nebula is visible to the naked eye, even in moderatly light polluted skys. If you look to the south around 8ish (in UK!) you should be able to locate Orion's belt - three stars in a line around 4 degrees above the horizon - the nebula will be faint fuzzy patch just below these.