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Orion Nebula multiband 2x2 mosaic - HOO

2026-04-03

Classification: Photograph
Museum: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: CC BY 4.0, as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed

About this work

This multiband study of the Orion Nebula covered the near infrared, red, green, and blue bands along with H-alpha and [O III] emission. This image was assembled by combining H-alpha data in the red image channel with [O III] data in the green and blue image channels. In the resulting HOO palette, emission from gases ionized by the stars of the Orion Nebula dominates the picture, with [O III] emission only present in the hottest parts of the nebula ionized by the Trapezium.

However, some continuum sources manage to leak through: stars are still visible in the image, and some of the nebulosity captured by the [O III] channel is actually reflection nebulosity. Because Rayleigh scattering, the process which illuminates reflection nebulae, preferentially scatters shorter wavelengths of light, more reflection nebulosity leaks through the [O III] filter than the H-alpha filter.

Mount: Sky-Watcher Wave 150i (strain wave German equatorial mount)

Telescope: Apertura CarbonStar RC8 (Ritchey–Chrétien telescope, 203 mm aperture, 1624 mm focal length, no reducer or flattener)