M1 aka The Crab Nebula 

M1 Ha-OIII_RGB


M1 aka The Crab Nebula - Close Crop


M1 aka The Crab Nebula - close crop

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From SEDS.ORG: (read the entire story here: http://messier.seds.org/m/m001.html)

Discovered 1731 by British amateur astronomer John Bevis.

The Crab Nebula, Messier 1 (M1, NGC 1952), is the most famous and conspicuous known supernova remnant, the expanding cloud of gas created in the explosion of a star as supernova which was observed in the year 1054 AD. It shines as a nebula of magnitude 8.4 near the southern "horn" of Taurus, the Bull.

The supernova was noted on July 4, 1054 A.D. by Chinese astronomers as a new or "guest star," and was about four times brighter than Venus, or about mag -6. According to the records, it was visible in daylight for 23 days, and 653 days to the naked eye in the night sky. It was probably also recorded by Anasazi Indian artists (in present-day Arizona and New Mexico), as findings in Navaho Canyon and White Mesa (both Arizona) as well as in the Chaco Canyon National Park (New Mexico) indicate; there's a review of the research on the Chaco Canyon Anasazi art online. In addition, Ralph R. Robbins of the University of Texas has found Mimbres Indian art from New Mexico, possibly depicting the supernova.

The Supernova 1054 was one of few historically observed supernovae in our Milky Way Galaxy.

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Scope: Planewave 12.5" CDK
Camera: Apogee U16M w Astrondon Gen II 5nm H-Alpha and OIII filters
Mount: Paramount ME (MKS5000 upgrade)
Guided w ST-402 and Astrodon MMOAG
Acquired using CCD-Commander and TheSkyX
5x20min OIII, 5x20min H-Alpha, 40min each RGB
Calibration, Alignment and Sigma Reject combine in Maxim
Assembly of the RGB Ha OIII entirely in PixInsight. JPEGs for web display produced in PS CC 2015

Click on the image to see it 2x larger.  

Lucknow, Ontario
March 2016

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