The Orion Nebula also know as 42 is a miraculous place. Stars are born in that nebula. Being about 1350 light years away, it only seems as a small dot in the middle of sword of Orion to the naked eye. Physics professor Isidro Villo was able to optically zoom into the nebula producing a stunning time-lapse.

The zoom-lapse, which Villo calls deep sky time lapse as taken using cheap gear in astronomical standards: A pair of cameras: a Canon 5D Mark II, and a modified 450D (European Digital Rebel XSi). A Sigma 50-500mm behemoth and a Canon x2 teleconverter. The camera was mounted on a Meade LX80 mount to track the skies.

The movie was taken in Sierra Nevada which has a very low light pollution. To drive the camera and lenses a special system was built. One motor controls the zoom while another one pulls focus for exposures of over 40 seconds.

[M42: Live View Optical Zoom | Isidro Villo via io9]