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The Trapezium in M42

The Trapezium is the most famous multiple star system in the entire night sky. Located at the very heart of M42, the Orion Nebula, it is one of the youngest star clusters known.

The four brightest stars in the Trapezium are easily visible in a four-inch telescope with decent optical quality under good seeing conditions. They range in brightness from magnitude 5 to magnitude 8. They can be seen unresolved as a single star with the unaided eye as the middle star in the sword of Orion.

The image above shows the four brightest stars of the Trapezium very close together at the center of the photo.

Exposure Data
  • Lens: Astro-Physics 130EDT f/8
  • F/stop: f/8
  • Exposure: single 10 second exposure
  • Mount: Losmandy GM 100EQ
  • Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark II DSLR
  • Mode: JPEG
  • ISO: 800
  • White Balance: Daylight
  • In-Camera Noise Reduction: Off
  • Filter: None
  • Temp: NR
  • Time: 5:46 a.m. EDT
  • Date September 6, 2004
  • Location: Voorhees, NJ
  • Calibration: None
  • Processing: None




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