APOD: 2024 December 28 - A December Winter Night

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for December 28, 2024.

Have you ever seen the constellation Orion decked out in red like this? That's what happens when you add a hydrogen-alpha (Hα) filter to your camera with a (I'm guessing) 15-30 second exposure setting. The loop you see to the east (left) of Orion is Banard's Loop, named after astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard. Above the loop you see the Lambda Orionis Cloud, so named for the star Meissa (aka Lambda Orionis) at its center. The image was captured in southern Poland on the night of December 21st.