Hunting Orion
By: Matt Quinn
Tags: Story, Astronomy, Photography

Just before midnight I headed back to the park and sat waiting for Orion to appear. I set up in the parking lot where I had started my hike earlier in the day. Setting up the telescope mount to track the movement of the stars takes about 30 minutes to do. It requires precise alignment to the north pole and can be challenging to get right. I also set up a time-lapse with a second camera to give a different perspective of the process involved in capturing these deep space photos. The compiled time-lapse condenses a 5 hour period into 11 seconds and gives you a unique view of how our world turns.

Orion was now peeking out over the horizon in the east. My camera was ready to go and it was time to see what I could get. These deep space images require immense patience as the light gets absorbed into the camera. Ideally you can do exposures as long as 10 minutes per frame, but with the equipment I had, you’d be lucky to get a 3 minute image without seeing blur. After a few failed test shots, I thought luck wasn’t going to be on my side. Then after a few camera setting adjustments I was able to get solid 3 minute frames. Happy with this, I set up my timer to take photos for the next couple of hours.

While hours passed and my camera snapped away, I wandered around the area exploring what the night had to offer. I didn’t venture all that far from the car because I’d hear scurrying about, crashes or loud noises nearby and then retreat to safety. It was most likely a racoon, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Being out there completely alone definitely put me outside my comfort zone. I had to take a few deep breathes and look up to calm my nerves.

It was approaching 5am and I had been capturing the night sky for over 5 hours. The images that appeared on my camera looked good, but only when I got home and reviewed them on my computer would I know if I was going to get a decent final result. As I packed up my gear I noticed a thin layer of frost forming on everything. It was getting cold. I headed back to my campsite to get an hour or two of sleep before the sun began to rise.

Before I went to sleep, I looked at the captured frames again. There in front of my eyes was a structure of gas, dust and stars that was over 20 light years across. I looked up into the sky and saw the three stars that made up Orion’s belt and shook my head. It was hard to believe that what I was looking at on my camera was actually up there. For millennia these objects laid hidden until the early 1600s when we first laid eyes upon them with our newly minted telescopes. Knowing that fact, it’s quite an awesome feeling to see them appear on your normal everyday camera.

After returning home, I poured over the captured frames compiling them into one final image. I then spent hours tweaking them using software. Deep space images require huge amounts of post processing to make the details shine. Below are the results of the hunt. Not only was I able to capture the Orion Nebula, but the neighbouring Running Man Nebula as well. Half way through the night I moved my camera ever so slightly and as an added bonus caught the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae as well.