Another Orion M42 with Panny GH2

Hi Bill,

Great images showing the "Sword" of Orion! I particularly like the one above. It reminds me of some of the sunset pictures showing the reddish rays of the low sun illuminating the Sunward side of a cloud. I notice one thing that doesn't affect the beauty of your image, but does affect its scientific accuracy. The image looks to be a mirror image of "reality". This is most apparent in the area I like to call the "Bird's Head", also known as M43. While it's part of the larger Orion Nebula (M42), it is the detached portion, which looks to me like a bird and its beak.

If an imaging system includes an odd number of reflections, like employing a star diagonal with a refractor, you will get a mirror image. I suppose if this is of concern, it can be changed easily in post-processing. Newtonian reflectors generally don't have this effect (uses 2 mirrors), but refractors and Schmidt-Cassegrains with star diagonals (1- and 3-reflections) will be mirror imaged.

In any case, congratulations on getting a spectacular image of M42-M43! Thanks for sharing.

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Best Regards,
Russ