SH2-265 (Sharpless 265 )

This area of Orion is a rich area when it comes to nebula, but at the same time it is a fainter area. Two nebulae that come to mind are SH2-265 and SH2-263, which are seen on the More Button page. This image of SH2-265 is the larger one and in some ways is more interesting. With a larger telescope, you can pick up the brighter part of the nebula which seems to have some interesting structure. It is uncertain if this brighter area would do well using a narrowband color image because of the lack of OIII. However, it is most likely it would not work. A very long exposure will help smooth out the fainter area of this nebula. It does well with the Hydrogen-Alpha filter, but you may need to boost the color RGB as well to get the rich color you may want, which is what I did here. Using a field of view of about three degrees, you will get both SH2-265 and SH2-263.

For a complete list of the Sharpless Catalog visit my main site at http://www.sharplesscatalog.com


The image below was taken using an TAK E-160 F/3.3 and the SBIG STL-6303.   This was a lille short of an exposure because the nebula around SH2-265 and SH2-263 (on top) is rather faint.  The nebula on the upper left is getting close to Sh2-264 (Orion's Head)

Images by Dean Salman