Last few hours of 2010 - Orion Nebula....before the fireworks.

New Years Eve, most would be out staring at the Space Needle in large mobs of people pushing and shoving to see the fireworks.  Nope, don't like the crowds, so I spent the evening staring at real space!  First clear night in about 2 months.
Of course the best target in the winter skies is M42. 
This is 30 exposures all at 800 ISO between 20 seconds up to 6 minutes.   I used some tricks from Tony Hallas, and some other things I remember from my trip down to see Adam Block this month.  Here is what I came up with.
(Click for full sized view)

 

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