IC 434, Barnard 33, NGC 2023, NGC 2024

Alnitak Region

IC 434, Barnard 33, NGC 2023, NGC 2024
IC 434, Barnard 33, NGC 2023, NGC 2024

Dear ASOD folks,

Here’s a nice sketch I managed to do roughly a month ago.

Objects: IC 434, Barnard 33, NGC 2023, NGC 2024
Object type: various kinds of nebulae (dark, reflection & emission)
Location: Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain
Date: 12.3.2012
Media: graphite pencil on white paper, inverted on a computer

This sketch was done under the nice La Palman NELM 7.0 sky using a Tokina 300mm f/2.8 photographic lens. With a eyepiece adapter this lens makes a nice roughly 10cm rich field telescope. I decided to take a glimpse at the Alnitak region in Orion to see if there was any chance to see IC 434. Using a H-beta filter indeed revealed the nebula, which complemented nicely the brighter NGC nebulae in the same field.

More careful observation revealed something unexpected to me. There was a round notch in the relatively sharp east edge of the IC 434 precisely at the location of the Horsehead nebula. Cross checking this feature with friends confirmed it to be real. Being able to see the Horsehead nebula with only a 10cm telescope was really stunning. After all, I had grown up always hearing that seeing it requires at least a medium large telescope. This was truly a lesson that aperture isn’t the last word when observing deep sky.

The sketch is a combination of two simultaneous views of the same field. IC 434 and Barnard 33 were drawn with a H-beta filter whereas NGC 2023 and 2024 were drawn unfiltered.

Best regards,
Jyri Lehtinen

One thought on “Alnitak Region”

  1. Jyri,

    This is very interesting sketch.
    Special thanks for description.

    clear sky 🙂
    Marek

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