Zia Shulman
Astro 8A
Spring 2025
M43

This image of M43 was taken on 3/26/2025 at 04:04:35.000, using the SBIG ST-2K Color Dual CCDCamera with an 80-inch focal length telescope and a 75-square inch aperture. Using the software “Version WinOPS 5.57 Build 3-NT”, the temperature of the CCD was -22.65 degrees C. The pixel size is 1600 Pixels Wide x 1200 Pixels High, and the Exposure State is ABG-Clocked DCS-Yes DCR-No. The exposure had no dark current suppression. When taking my photo, the sky was a little cloudy, mostly clear, and the moon was visible. My image processing was with the use of CCDOps, RegiStax 6, and Photoshop. In CCDOps, I used DarkFlats, Flat Field Correction, and Converting to Color. In Registax, I Color Aligned, and made sure the quality of the image stayed at 0. In Photoshop, I changed the contrast, brightness, and saturation to make M43 stand out amongst the Orion Nebula. Changing the “Curves” is what really brought M43 to life. Once I was done with everything, I saved all 4 images. This image is the printed 8x10 photo of M43.