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Observations of object "M42 (Orion Nebula)":

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1-inch equatorial reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Dec 23 04:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2321

This evening, I observed three different star clusters in Orion. I first observed the group of stars which is part of Orion's head. I then observed the huge cluster of stars that swarm around the three belt stars of Orion. I then viewed a cluster of stars just below Bellatrix which also was impressive. Just above Betelgeuse, were stars that formed Orion's club while the group of stars above Bellatrix formed Orion's arrow. Finally, I viewed the famous Orion Nebula. What a great night of observing.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1-inch equatorial reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Dec 23 04:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2320

This evening, I observed three different star clusters in Orion. I first observed the group of stars which is part of Orion's head. I then observed the huge cluster of stars that swarm around the three belt stars of Orion. I then viewed a cluster of stars just below Bellatrix which also was impressive. Just above Betelgeuse, were stars that formed Orion's club while the group of stars above Bellatrix formed Orion's arrow. Finally, I viewed the famous Orion Nebula. What a great night of observing.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Apr 9 00:45:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2245

This evening, my brother Anthony & I did some nice observing with our computerized 5" MAK. We were able to view M97, The Owl Nebula. We also looked at Galaxies M82 & M104. However, we decided to closely examine M42 & M3. We used a strong Televue eyepiece with a nebula filter to inspect the Orion Nebula. This turned out to be one of our best views ever of the Orion Nebula. We then moved to the belt star Mintaka where we saw more of the nebula in Orion. We finally moved the scope to M78 where more of the nebulosity was. We then examined globular cluster M3 & what we saw was some nice speckling with it. we also viewed Mellotte 111 open cluster as well as M41 & some double stars. It turned out to be a great evening.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1-inch equatorial reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Feb 5 01:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2228

This evening I observed objects in both the Orion & Canis Major. In Orion, I was able to see clusters of stars throughout Orion. I was also able to enjoy double stars & asterisms. M42 & 43 were nice to see also. In Canis Major, M41 did not show very well but there were plenty of asterisms & clusters of stars there too. Now that I'm recovered from Covid, I can now resume my astronomy.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1-inch equatorial reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Oct 1 00:00:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2197

Last night & this morning, I did plenty observing with my Newtonian Short Tube reflector. Last night I started out with Jupiter & I was able to see its two belts & four moons. I then went on to Saturn where I enjoyed looking at its rings & its moon Titan. I then looked at the moon to observe the moon's crater rays. When I looked at Mars, I was able to see more dark areas as well as its blue white polar hood. Finally I turned on the variable star Myra which is now at its brightest. It was orange color. When it dims again, it will turn red. Early this morning, I got up to do more observing. Venus has a lot of grey areas embedded in its cloud bank so I believe some storms are occurring on the planet. I then turned my attention to the Orion Nebula & its constellation. The nebula is just one part of how great it is to sweep Orion with low powered eye piece. The nebula itself was great to see but there was nebulosity throughout the constellation. There are many groups of stars that can be seen with my scope. Finally, I checked out Betelgeuse & it has regained most if not all of its brightness. However, Rigel did look brighter. Later in the morning, I looked at the sun with my solar scope. There were no sunspots to be seen.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Nov 30 04:45:00 2018 UT   Obs. no.: 2079

This evening I observed Orion with my 10X50 binoculars. I first looked at the nebula itself & I was able to see a few Trapezium stars also. Looking at the belt stars, I was able to see a cluster of fainter stars all around the belt stars. The head of Orion also contains a group of fainter stars showing its head. Just below the nebula, there is a binocular double star which is nice to look at. Finally, I was able to compare & contrast the orange color of Betelguiese with the blue white color of Rigel.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Nov 30 04:45:00 2018 UT   Obs. no.: 2078

This evening I observed Orion with my 10X50 binoculars. I first looked at the nebula itself & I was able to see a few Trapezium stars also. Looking at the belt stars, I was able to see a cluster of fainter stars all around the belt stars. The head of Orion also contains a group of fainter stars showing its head. Just below the nebula, there is a binocular double star which is nice to look at. Finally, I was able to compare & contrast the orange color of Betelguiese with the blue white color of Rigel.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Scott Brady (e-mail: scottb.esc@gmail.com)
Instrument: 114-mm equatorial reflector   Location: Queen Creek, AZ, USA
Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Nov 2 05:30:00 2009 UT   Obs. no.: 1836

This was my first observation of this nebula, and was made from my front yard. With my 114mm reflector I was able to see four faint stars that formed a diamond pattern. It took several minutes of observation before I was able to distinguish all four stars. This pattern was surrounded by a very faint haze that appeared to be a grayish color. This was an amazing sight to see, and I look forward to viewing this again with less moonlight.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Brandon (e-mail: bdavison2@mail.csuchico.edu)
Instrument: 13.1-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Red Bluff, California, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sun Nov 30 04:43:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1805

I saw an object move through the Orion Nebula at 10:43pm November 29, 2008. Didn't look like a satellite, but was on a consistantly straight path to the the lower left (i.e 8 o'clockish). Any ideas?

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jan 23 23:15:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1755

This evening I observed The Orion Nebula with my 127mm MAK. I was not able to see as much detail tonight compared to other nights. However the grey green color of M42 was still obvious. The four stars of the Trapezium split very well. Actually the Orion Nebula extends out to were the belt stars of Orion are located. There the nebulousity takes on a bluish tinge because the three belt stars are all blue stars. Anyone with a telescope even with low power can cee the color differences.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: poor
Time: Tue Oct 2 10:15:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1715

Woke up very early this morning to what I thought would have been perfect seeing conditions. A very dark sky and very crisp air about an hour before sunrise. Orion, the last quarter moon and Mars were directly overhead. Venus blazed in the East light a beacon. I guessed Venus to be mag -4.0 or thereabout. My (first) target was M42. This was my first viewing with the new telescope. It was exceptional. It completely blew away any previous view through my 6" newt. The nebula had to be 3 times larger than I had ever seen it, not due to pumping up the magnification but instead because of so much more of the nebula that was visible. The long wisps of cloud along it's major axis were thin yet very well defined through binoviewers. Oddly, the view was not any better using a nebula filter. Since I had to get ready for work, I did not allow the scope to cool down which may account for the less than satisfactory views of the moon and Mars. Alot of ghosting and unfocused views no matter how I much I tried in vain to achieve good focus. All seems to be collimated so my only guess is choppy atmosphere or no ample cool down time.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Feb 20 00:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1624

This evening, my brother Anthony and I observed several objects during a one hour period in 19 degree weather. The first thing we looked at was a beautiful pairing of the moon and Venus in the western sky. The earthshine was very bright and we could see some mares on the darkside of the moon. Saber's Beads were very obvious and this was my brother's first observation of them. They can be seen on the lower cusp of a crescent moon one or two days around full moon. The long period variable star Mira is currenly at 2nd magnitude in its cycle. When it is this bright, the star star appears to be orange in color. As Mira begins to fade, it will begin to look redder in color. We then began to switch our attention to Orion Nebula. Both M42 and M43 showed plenty of detail and exibited a pale green color. We then swithed to the belt stars were the nebulosity had a bluish tinge do to the blue color of the belt stars. The belt star Alnitak is a double star that was easilly split. We then went to Rigel were its faint companion was rather difficult to split. Its faint compaion was very close to Rigel. We swithed to Sirius in order to observe it with my Star Spectroscope. Its two hydrogen lines showed easily and this means Sirius is a healthy star. Next it was on to Saturn where I was able to show my brother his first view of the Seeliger effect which shows the rings of saturn in front of Saturn's face being brighter than usual because Saturn is at opposition. Saturn's moon Titan had a yellow orange glow to it because of its hazy atmosphere. Next we went to Regulus to split it and its companion. Regulus is a very wide double that even a small scope can easilly split. Finally I saved the best for last. Tonight was such a transparant galaxy night my brother and I decided to try for the small satellite galaxy Leo 1 which is located right next to Regulus. We found it almost instantly. It looked like a small oval shaped smudge. It looked about four Regulus' long and about two Regulus' wide. I thus finished my big day night double header of astronomy. During the day I saw no sunspots on the sun.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Nov 21 04:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1584

This evening, I observed the nebulosity of the constellation of Orion with my 127mm MAK and 12mm Televue Eyepiece. The Orion Nebula, M42 and M43 had a drab green color to it. There looked to be both tendrils and dustlanes in the nebula. The nebula does extend well beyond M42. An example is the belt stars of Orion in which each belt star is embedded in blue nebulosity. The nebula in that area is colored blue because the belt stars are so blue. Another nebula, NGC 1973 is just above the Orion Nebula and is an impressive nebula in its own right. In reality, NGC 1973 is really an extention of the Orion Nebula. Below M42, there is an open cluster in which some of the brighter members also seemed to have a little nebulosity. Finally, there is an impressive open cluster of stars around the three belt stars of Orion. This cluster is best seen with binoculars. A Leonid meteor zoomed by to the left of Orion to complete the evening's festivities.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Mar 8 01:45:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1508

Nice viewing of M42 and M43 region. Using binoviewers at 71x and 142x and a Nebula Filter, the Great Nebula Region was huge! Long whisps of mist coiled around inside my FOV and the M43 cloud was also readily visible. The trapezium yielded 5 stars without the Nebula filter but only 4 stars with it on the eyepiece. The stars lose about a magnitude or so when using the filters in order to draw out more contrast for the nebula,s visibility.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Feb 20 02:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1496

Simply beautiful view of the Great Nebula. It was crisp and easy to view at any power (71x up to 203x). Made out 5 stars in the Trapezium. M43 appeared larger than usual due to the excellent observing conditions. Still have not been able to see any real detail to NCG 1973, 1975 or 1977 as of yet. Perhaps through time exposure I will have some luck.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Feb 13 23:15:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1490

This evening, after finishing work, my friend Don Hartlin and I took a ten minute binocular view of the night sky. First we went to M42 the Orion Nebula. In 10X50 binoculars, M42 looked like a small nebula with two blue stars in it. We then shifted to the three belt stars of Orion to observe Colandor 70, which is an open cluster of stars around the three belt stars. M45, the Pleiades, looks great in binoculars. However, because it wasn't quite dark out, we could not see the blue color of the stars. Finally The Hyades open cluster was really impressive with its mostly yellow stars. All in all, a nice evening of observing.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: B (e-mail: brilbri29@hotmail.com)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Denver, Colorado, USofA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: poor
Time: Thu Dec 29 16:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1459

Bright Nebula in Orion. Very bright. Could see the wavy fingers of the nebula, if you know what I mean.Slit the trapezium easily, I was going to go for the fainter star 1F but forgot!! Can't believe it.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Thu Dec 8 22:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1447

This observation was from a village about 50 kms from the city, where light pollution is practically nil. The Orion Nebula looked like a grayscale version of David Malin's photograph of the same. It was breathtaking. The city of Bangalore offers enough light pollution to mar the view completely.M 43 in the field appeared as a separate patch of nebulosity with a star in the center.The whole thing looked like a bird with wings spread out.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Thu Dec 8 04:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1428

Viewed the Moon and M42 last night. Started with the moon shortly after coming home from work. I was able to take a few pics of it with the LPI and have posted another mosaic on my webpage. About 5 hours later I viewed M42 with my 15x70 binos and a nebula filter. The view at 15x with the filter was amazing! The nebula looked completely different than what I am used to. Overall, it was about 1 1/2 times larger than usual. The filter really brought out subtle features that are invisible otherwise. The nebula took on a flame-shape with smaller nebulae being just visible above. (I believe this was NGC1973, 75 and 77). There was also a definite green hue clearly visible. On previous viewings through my scope I have picked up hues of pale green without having the filter. But with the filter, a much darker green is definetly visible even through much smaller aperature binos. I will target this nebula region with much more scrutiny this weekend if given the chance. We are due in for a major snow storm tonight through the weekend.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 2.8-inch refractor   Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 08:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1384

As impressive as M42 is with binoculars, it was fun to get a closer view with my Orion Observer. The Trapezium (Theta 1) was easily resolved into 4 stars. With 25mm Explorer II, I could see there were 4 stars, the 10mm Explorer II made it more clear, and the 8mm Plossl provided a good view as well. The only downside that I saw was that the general impression of the gas cloud area was slightly diminished for me when looking through the scope.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Lee S (e-mail: nospam-laspain123@aol.com, web: http://cgi.tripod.com/astro-cracker/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 29 07:15:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1383

I was glad to stay up late enough to greet Orion for the first time this fall. With an old pair of 10x50 wide angle binoculars, I could see M42 and get a general impression of the gas clouds around the region.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 25 00:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1168

I can easily see M 42 with my telescope, in the northern part of the nebula I've seen a dark intrusion, using averted vision. The “wings” of the nebula are not visible, even on a dark sky. The “Trapezium” cluster is easily seen, composed of three stars.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Nov 29 03:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1119

The view of M42 tonight completely blew me away! At 30x the boundaries of the nebula were crisp. The stars looked like headlights of a car peering through fog. It was eerie to see how thick the nebula really was. The Trapezium was easy to seperate at 30x. The coloring was indeed a pale green (previous sighting last month appeared grayish). Boosting to 203x the nebula filled up a large portion of the FOV. Even at this magnification, the contrast of the nebula was unspoiled. A wonderful spectacle that I just can not ever get enough of!

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.geocities.com/deep_sky_astronomy)
Instrument: 114-mm Dobsonian reflector   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Nov 10 03:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1112

With my 114mm telescope, on a dark country sky, M 42 barley fits in my eyepiece field at 36x, and the details are incredible. The nebula is divided into three areas, according to brightness: The brightest part surrounds the four young stars formed inside the nebula, then continues in the nebulas wings. The medium brightness part is located SE of the Trapezium cluster, and finishes in the point where the eastern wing begins.The faintest area is located in the southern part of the nebula, and continues in the wings. The eastern "wing" is the brightest and longest, and the western one is shorter but wider.In the northern part of the nebula, just above the "Trapezium", you will see a dark intrusion that gives the characteristic aspect of the nebula.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Oct 16 06:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1079

Sorry for the mistake in the last post folks. I meant to state that the "Trapezium" was easily noticeable. Not the "Triangulum". (Seems like I have M33 on my mind just alittle too much.

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