With two Canon zoom lenses, a telephoto lens, a focal reducer, and my Meade 12-inch f/10 telescope, I can take pictures with fields of view that vary by a factor of more than 130 times. This series of seven pictures of Orion range from a wide view about 64 degrees wide to a close-up of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) less than 1/2-degree wide.

In this wide-angle image, the constellation Orion is on the left, and the Hyades open cluster that forms the head of Taurus the bull is at the top.

Image details:  12 images, each 60 seconds at ISO 1600, taken with a Canon 400D camera and a zoom lens at 18 mm.

December 2008