2/26/03 B33

This is an image representing 3 major milestones in my progression as an astrophotographer! This is my first guided image, the 201xt was used to auto-guide during the exposures, and it worked quite well. In addition, this is the first light image for my ST8i camera, i.e. the first image I have ever taken with this camera (which is used, but new to me).The third milestone represented here is that this is my first image of this fantastic, magical object. Probably the most widely recognized nebula in the sky, Barnard 33 is more commonly known as the Horsehead nebula. Located in the belt of Orion, the Horsehead is a dark nebula, silhouetted against much lighter nebulosity in the background. However, the background nebulosity is also quite dark, brightening only with long exposure photography. Being dark, it's a difficult object to see, I've never actually seen it myself (even while lining up for this image) except in pictures.