The end of Winter

March 20th (2022) marks the official end of winter and start of spring.

For the Astronomer and Astrophotographer it means lighter nights are on their way and some of the winter targets are gone for another year.

To this end I wanted to try something different and something familiar within Orion.

Image - IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg) via Wikimedia Commons

The different stuff relates to the two images below showing the stars Betelgeuse (left) and Rigel (right).

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star lying some 642.5 light years away and has a surface temperature of about 3,500 degrees Kelvin.
By contrast, Rigel is a blue supergiant lying at 864.3 light years and has a surface temperature of about 11,000 degrees Kelvin.

Next is of course a familiar image to most astronomers - The Orion Nebula or Messier 42.
A stellar nursery approx. 1,344 light years away from Earth which can be spotted with the naked eye.

45sec. subs for 45min. 30sec. total

Altair Astro Hypercam 183C PRO (Gain 1600, Offest 48, Bin 2x2)
6in Ritchey Chrétien with 0.6x focal reducer
SkyTech LPRO Max filter
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and Affinity Photo

Clear skies
MJ