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M1 - An Explosion in Space

M1 - An Explosion in Space

 

Sky-watchers on Earth witnessed and wrote about a bright “supernova” (literally meaning “new star”) in the year 1054. What they were really viewing was the birth of rapidly expanding clouds from an exploding star. By the year 2021, roughly one thousand years later, these clouds have covered a distance of nearly 10 light years, and they continue to expand at a rate of about 1000 kilometers per second.

 

In 1840, after viewing this supernova remnant through a telescope and sketching it, astronomer William Parsons thought that it looked like a crab, and the name “Crab Nebula” caught on. If you can't see such a crab, you're not alone! With modern cameras we can collect so much more light and detail than that which could be previously captured with the eye and eyepiece combo, so to me (and probably to you) it looks more like, well, an explosion in space.

 

See on Fluidr

 

OTA: PlaneWave CDK20

GUIDER: Astrodon Monster MOAG

MOUNT: PlaneWave L-500

CAMERA: FLI ML-16803

GUIDE CAMERA: QHY 5-III 174 M

REDUCER: N/A

SOFTWARE: SGP, PhD2, PWI 3 & 4, Pixinsight, Starnet++, Photoshop, various plugins

FILTERS: Astrodon NII 3nm, Hα 3nm, OIII 3nm, RGB

ACCESSORIES: Pegasus UPB

LOCATION: SRO

 

To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space

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Uploaded on January 5, 2021