IC 434 · HORSEHEAD & FLAME JAN 2026
§ DEEP-SKY · TARGET
IC 434
Horsehead & Flame
- TYPE
- Emission + dark nebula
- CONSTELLATION
- Orion
- DISTANCE
- 1,375 ly
- MAGNITUDE
- +6.8
- APPARENT SIZE
- 60' × 30'
ACQUISITION
DATE
Jan 2026
LOCATION
Columbus, OH · Bortle 5
INTEGRATION
~9h
PALETTE
HOO + broadband blend
FILTERS
Antlia ALP-T · UV/IR cut
Barnard 33 — the iconic silhouette — rides the glowing hydrogen ridge of IC 434. Most of the detail people remember is actually the shape of the dark dust, not the glow behind it.
§ 01 · PROCESSING
Workflow
- Stacked in PixInsight (WBPP) with calibration frames
- StarXTerminator star removal
- BlurXTerminator deconvolution
- NoiseXTerminator noise reduction
- Broadband data blended for star color
§ 02 · GEAR
Equipment
- SCOPE
- 3D-printed 150mm f/5 Newtonian astrograph
- CAMERA
- ASI533MC Pro
- MOUNT
- Proxisky Umis20s
- FILTERS
- Antlia ALP-T · UV/IR cut
- GUIDING
- SVBony 60mm guide scope · 22mm mini guide cam · PHD2