My Astro Photo Of The Day

[cookies4life]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

[Darwinian]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

I know a bit about astrology and everything I've learnt about it so far points me to the conclusion that it's superstitious cr*p!!

Astronomy on the other hand is fantastic

[orogenicman]

[downbeatplumb]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

I know a bit about astrology and everything I've learnt about it so far points me to the conclusion that it's superstitious cr*p!!

Astronomy on the other hand is fantastic

I think santa might be bringing me a telescope this year.

[orogenicman]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

I know a bit about astrology and everything I've learnt about it so far points me to the conclusion that it's superstitious cr*p!!

Astronomy on the other hand is fantastic

I think santa might be bringing me a telescope this year.

Any idea what kind? Just curious.

[Darwinian]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

I know a bit about astrology and everything I've learnt about it so far points me to the conclusion that it's superstitious cr*p!!

Astronomy on the other hand is fantastic

I think santa might be bringing me a telescope this year.

Any idea what kind? Just curious.

Hopefully the sort that I can borrow for long periods of time.

[orogenicman]

Awesome pic!
I don't know anything about astrology but this seems amazing.

I know a bit about astrology and everything I've learnt about it so far points me to the conclusion that it's superstitious cr*p!!

Astronomy on the other hand is fantastic

I think santa might be bringing me a telescope this year.

Any idea what kind? Just curious.

Hopefully the sort that I can borrow for long periods of time.

lol. Join an astronomy club. They will loan you a club scope.

[orogenicman]

I had a fruitful night at the observatory Tuesday evening. My friends from last month showed up as well to keep me company, which was very nice. I'll start off with the first object of the night, which was one I had heard about but had never observed or even seen an image of. I found it using Starry Night (a kind of planetarium software), and thought I'd try and see if I could do anything with it. It came out much better than I thought it would, though the starts are not perfectly round. On the other hand, this is my longest total exposure to date, and the emission and reflection nebulas came out well.

IC 405, The Flaming Star Nebula

From Wikipedia:

IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31) is an emission/reflection nebula[1] in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the bluish star AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0. Its celestial coordinates are RA 05h 16.2m dec +34° 28′.[2] It surrounds the irregular variable star AE Aurigae and is located near the emission nebula IC 410, the open cluster M38, and the naked-eye K-class star Hassaleh. The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500 light-years away.[2] It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the Orion's Belt area.[2] The nebula is about 5 light-years across.[1]

Image:
12x5 minutes for a total of 65 minutes at ISO 800
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, Dark Subtracted
Processed in Adobe Maxim Dl and Photoshop CS3 Extended
Taken on January 4, 2011 at the Louisville Astronomical Society James G. Baker Center for Astronomy Observatory, in Curby, Indiana

Equipment:
Hutech Canon T1i DSLR
200 mm f5 Konus Newtonian with a Baader coma corrector and a UV/IR cut filter
Losmandy G11 Gemini GOTO mount on Heavy Duty Tripod
Orion Shorty Autoguide Scope with Starshooter autoguider

---

Messier 1, The Crab Nebula, in Taurus

From Wikipedia:

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was observed by John Bevis in 1731; it corresponds to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054. At X-ray and gamma-ray energies above 30 KeV, the Crab is generally the strongest persistent source in the sky, with measured flux extending to above 1012 eV. Located at a distance of about 6,500 light-years (2 kpc) from Earth, the nebula has a diameter of 11 ly (3.4 pc) and expands at a rate of about 1,500 kilometers per second.

At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star (or spinning ball of neutrons), 28-30km across,[5] which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

The nebula acts as a source of radiation for studying celestial bodies that occult it. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Sun's corona was mapped from observations of the Crab's radio waves passing through it, and in 2003, the thickness of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan was measured as it blocked out X-rays from the nebula.

The cloudy remnants of SN 1054 are now known as the Crab Nebula. The nebula is also referred to as Messier 1 or M1, being the first Messier Object catalogued in 1758.

Image:
10x5 minutes for a total of 50 minutes at ISO 800
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, Dark Subtracted
Processed in Adobe Maxim Dl and Photoshop CS3 Extended
Taken on January 4, 2011 at the Louisville Astronomical Society James G. Baker Center for Astronomy Observatory, in Curby, Indiana

Equipment:
Hutech Canon T1i DSLR
200 mm f5 Konus Newtonian with a Baader coma corrector and a UV/IR cut filter
Losmandy G11 Gemini GOTO mount on Heavy Duty Tripod
Orion Shorty Autoguide Scope with Starshooter autoguider

[orogenicman]

Here is a cropped version of Messier 1: