This 2-minute exposure was taken on December 16, 2000 at my home in Colfax, CA. The three stars that make up Orion's belt are vertically arranged just to the right of the center of the picture. Rigel, a blue supergiant star, is the bright star directly to the right of the belt, while Betelgeuse, a red supergiant, is directly opposite, on the left. The Great Nebula in Orion (M42) is the bright reddish splotch in the center of Orion's sword, the three stars just to the lower right of his belt. The Rosette Nebula (NGC2237) is also visible as the faint reddish smudge just above the trees in the lower left. High thin clouds were responsible for the light haze covering most of the picture.



This picture was taken immediately after, and using the same tracker as, this one.


Here's another attempt at Orion, taken on January 22, 2001 from a hilltop near my home. The clouds were beginning to move in as I was setting up to begin my photo session. I managed to get this 4-minute exposure before they were too bad, so there's not as much blurring of the stars as seen in the previous image.



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