đŸ‘ïž #19: Visual Observation of M42 – Orion Nebula

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January 31, 2019 – SkyWatcher 150/750 | Visual observation + handheld smartphone

🌌 Looking, Not Capturing

Astrophotography is usually where my heart lies — but on this evening, I decided to take a step back. No guiding, no stacking, no processing. Just me, the scope, and the sky.

I set up my SkyWatcher 150/750 Newtonian on the EQ-3 Pro and aimed it at M42, the Orion Nebula. For once, I didn’t start clicking settings. I simply looked.

And to my surprise, I saw more than I expected.

đŸ“· Capturing the Experience – Barely

Of course, I couldn’t resist at least trying to capture what I saw — but with a twist. I held my LG G6 smartphone by hand in front of the 2″ eyepiece, and tried to adjust the exposure just enough to match the visual experience. No stacking, no edits — just raw, single-shot impressions.

Image 1:

I pushed the exposure to the edge — as long as I could go while keeping the stars round. To my amazement, it worked.

  • M42 and M43 are clearly visible
  • The Running Man Nebula is just peeking in at the edge
  • Even some color made it into the frame
  • No post-processing at all — straight from phone to sky to screen

Image 2:

This one was my best attempt to match what the eye actually sees through the eyepiece.

  • Faint cloud structure
  • Dark dust lanes creating contrast
  • A bright star surrounded by soft glow — that’s M43, just left of the main nebula

It’s not astrophotography. It’s something else.
A kind of documentation of seeing.

✹ Reflections

I’ve always leaned toward imaging — probably because I want to share what I see. Every time I look through an eyepiece, a part of me wonders, „Can I capture this?“

But visual astronomy carries its own kind of magic.
Because when you’re looking at something like M42, you’re catching light that’s been traveling for hundreds of thousands — even millions — of years. That light has crossed unimaginable distances without touching anything. Not a dust grain. Not a molecule. Nothing.

And then, in the exact right moment, it finds you.
It slips through Earth’s atmosphere, passes through glass, and lands directly on your retina. Not a second too late, not a second too soon.
Just right.

“The photons emitted from those objects have been on a journey for literally hundreds of thousands of years. Sometimes millions of years! And throughout all that time the photons travelled without any contact. They hit nothing, saw nothing, interacted with nothing. They just flew and flew through the void, until, finally, they hit your eye.”
— Me

Okay — maybe a bit much. But you get the point.
Visual astronomy is humbling when you think about it that way.

Still, for me, photography wins. If I see something beautiful, I want to capture it. Share it. Save it. Revisit it.
And smile, knowing: I did that.

Clear skies,
Chris