M78 & McNeil's nebula in Orion
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M78 is an emission nebula in Orion. Notice how there are a lot of stars on the left of the photo but far fewer to the right. This is because the emission nebula is surrounded by a dark cloud of dust which only allows occasional glimpses through it.
2012 Feb 18
Canon EOS 5D MkII ISO6400 52x32s
254mm Newtonian f=1200mm f/4.8
HEQ5 equatorial mount, driven but not guided
2012 Feb 18 22:12:25-22:43:11 UT
From Rookhope 54.8
2012 Jan 16
Canon EOS 5D MkII ISO6400 48x32s
254mm Newtonian f=1200mm f/4.8
HEQ5 equatorial mount, driven but not guided
2012 Jan 16 22:47:22-23:16:00 UT
From Rookhope 54.8
One of the bright patches in the dust cloud heading towards the top of my photo is a variable nebula, McNeil's. I have marked it in this enlargement from the photo above:
In this case the variability may be due to a shifting gap in the obscuring dark cloud.