M42 Orion Nebula, Joseph Cayouette, Febuary 2021
Good morning or good evening wherever you may be!
One of the most popular winter targets in the night sky is the Orion Nebula or (M42). It is a diffuse nebula located in the Milky way region of our home galaxy. The nebula is situated in the constellation of Orion just below the three star belt. In the northern hemisphere look to the southern sky between the months of January and March for the three bright stars that make up his belt. 
You can spot the nebula with the naked eye in a dark zone on a moonless night or by using binoculars or even your smartphone! Use a tripod and smartphone adapter and keep your exposure time to under 30 seconds. The captured image will be blurry and unfocused without a good mount for tracking the skies movement or a quality lens with more focal length. However, you should be able to resolve the nebula as a brightly saturated patch. This is a great start! You are already ahead of generations of folks who could only dream and speculate on what you have just accomplished!
M42 and Running Man Lower bottom, Horse head and Flaming Nebula upper left.
In the following post I will go over the gear that was used to capture this photo and provide suggestions for a good budget setup if you are interested in getting started with Astrophotography.
Until next time Clear Skies!
Joseph Cayouette
Bayern, Germany