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This is a 2-pane mosaic of NGC 1977. A previous image of the same target, taken with a 20″ telescope, can be found here. This mosaic was taken with a higher resolution camera and telescope.
The Orion Molecular Cloud area is very rich in bright, young stars (alone or in open clusters) as well as nebulae (emission and reflection). In the area shown in this image, located just North of M42, the Orion Nebula, three reflection nebulae, NGC 1977, 1975 and 1973, can be seen. NGC 1977 is the region surrounding HD 37018 (42 Ori, the brightest star at the lower center of the image), a B1V blue star located at around 900 light years.
In this region, also colder, dust rich gas is also present and it can be glimpsed as dark nebulosities. This nebulosity, being an important star-forming area, is also teeming with YSOs and Herbig-Haro objects. Actually, this area is still being object of numerous research projects. As recently as end of 2018, JS Kim et al., a research team of the Steward Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, published the discovery of seven new proplyds in NGC 1977
Additional Information
Object
Name(s): NGC 1977, NGC 1975 and NGC 1973. The running Man Nebula
Type: Emission-Reflection Nebula
RA: 05h 35m 23s
Dec: -04º 50’ 10”
Constellation: Orion
Size (arcmin): 42×28 arcmin
Magnitude:
Distance: 1,600 ly
Image
Date: 2025-01-24 to 2025-02-05
Location: Obstech, Río Hurtado, Chile
Size (arcmin): 42×37 arcmin
Telescope: 24” f/6.5 Reflector
Camera: Moravian C5A-100M (11760x8896pix)
Guiding: off-axis guider
Total exposure: 101 h 50 m (L: 12h 05m; Ha: 31h 20m; R: 16h 50m; G: 17h 45m; B: 22h 50m)
Processing: CCDStack, PixInsight (one process) and Photoshop CC 2025