Trapezium Stars E & F, AR6, and Atik 16

The Trapezium of Orion! These six stars (you must click on the picture to see the larger image) are gravitationally bound. This is a "multiple star," not just a double or triple star. There are several others in the same tiny group. In fact, you can see in this image a hint of a few others---perhaps G, H, and I---if you compare this image with the one near the bottom of this link. There may even be other stars shown in this image. Look at the blobby shape of the lowest star. It turns out that faint stars exist just to the lower left and right of this star. My little AR6 with this makeshift imaging system can't resolve them, but perhaps light from these stars is deforming this component of cluster. (Thanks to Anjal Sharma of the Huntsville Amateur Astronomy Society for pointing out the deformation and the possibility of other stars there.)

Anyone who reads this blog much knows that I check the Trapezium almost every time it is up and I am out. I take great delight in seeing the four stars hanging together in the sky. I am even more delighted when I see the E and F components. I've described them here and in three earlier posts. But they are so easy to see in the AR6! Moreover, they are bright stars. So I figured: The focal length of the AR6 is 1219mm. If I can attach the Atik 16 to the AR6 and use an Ha filter, I can take many very short exposures and stack them to show the E and F components. This is the result. This is unguided on the LXD75, and it was pretty shaky. In fact, this is only 28 out of the 100 sub-exposures I took, but they were only 1- or 2-second subs, so I didn't lose much time. Shakiness and "seeing" took a toll. Also, the thing took some time to set up. I was afraid Orion would move behind my neighbors' tree before I was finished. In the end, I had 30 minutes to spare. The Ha filter is an Astronomik 13nm bandwidth. One key to the process was Nebulosity's Drizzle function, which yielded a better resolution than mere stacking or combining.

Here are two great images of the Trapezium by Samir Kharusi and Roland Christen. Both make me want to try again soon.