AP#23 : M78
Name: The "Casper the friendly ghost" nebulae
Constellation:Orion
Instrument: 8-inch F5 reflector with sky watcher coma corrector and an ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro (Gain 100 -20C).
Exposure time:A stack of 30 three-minute exposures and 5 five-minute exposures.
Star Chart from Michael Vlasov's Deep sky hunter star atlas available on line https://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html
Magnitude: 8.3
Angular size: 8' X 6'
M78 is a reflection nebula in Orion that is often overlooked because it is not quite as spectacular as the other nebula in the constellation. It gets its name because there are two bright stars in the center that makes it look like eyes. Visually, the nebulosity looks like shape of a ghost. The small angular size is only for the brightest nebula. The rest of the complex is much larger.
