M1 aka The Crab Nebula
M1 aka The Crab Nebula -
Close Crop
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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
Home