Hemel Hempstead stargazer captures image of Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula

The keen stargazer took the image overnight on December 6
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A man from Hemel Hempstead has shared a picture of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula that he took from his garden.

Richard Blackshaw, who built an observatory in his back garden during lockdown, captured this image of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula.

The keen stargazer took the image overnight on Monday, December 6.

Richard captured this image of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula from his garden in Hemel HempsteadRichard captured this image of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula from his garden in Hemel Hempstead
Richard captured this image of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula from his garden in Hemel Hempstead

The Horsehead Nebula lives approximately 1,500 light-years away from Earth and the Flame Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Orion, it is about 900 to 1,500 light-years away.

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"You can't see this with the naked eye as such, possibly only a cloudy smudge if you are lucky and it takes a camera to draw it out.

"Seeing it on the laptop screen is great but once you have stacked all the multiple images on top of each other and "stretched" the image it bursts out of the screen. Its a very satisfying feeling."