dev20200106_20200106_20200105 M108 v1
M108 & M97
Between 1745 and 1781 French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier compiled a list of 110 fuzzy objects that remained at fixed positions in the sky. The purpose of the list was to help people not waste their time observing fuzzballs that don't move across the stars. It was a list of things UNINTERESTING to Messier. Now labeled M1-M110, the complete list of 109 (Wait, wasn't it 110? That's a story for another day...) fuzzy blobs in the sky are known to be star clusters, nebuale and galaxies. A popular astronomy challenge is to observe as many Messier objects as possible in a single night. A fun photographic challenge is to capture images of all 109 objects. I recorded these a few nights ago when it happened to be clear, but the slightly gibbous moon was too bright to bring out any serious detail and dew began to coat the camera later in the night too.
The first image is M1, the Crab Nebula. It is the remains of a star that went supernova, and supposedly the stellar explosion could be seen in daylight in 1054 A.D. The bright star in the image is called Tianguan, in the constellation Taurus, just above Orion's head.
In the second image is M108, an almost edge-on spiral galaxy, and my field of view was inadverdently wide enough to also capture M97, a so-called planetary nebula, the remains of a Sun-like star that has reached the end of its life. The bright star in the image is Merak, one of the stars in the scoop of the Big Dipper.
Hopefully I'll capture better images of these this year, but so far , 3 out of 109 objects captured!
#messiercatalogue #messier1 #crabnebula #messier97 #owlnebula #messier108 #deepskyphotography #astrophotography
dev20200106_20200106_20200105 M108 v1
M108 & M97
Between 1745 and 1781 French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier compiled a list of 110 fuzzy objects that remained at fixed positions in the sky. The purpose of the list was to help people not waste their time observing fuzzballs that don't move across the stars. It was a list of things UNINTERESTING to Messier. Now labeled M1-M110, the complete list of 109 (Wait, wasn't it 110? That's a story for another day...) fuzzy blobs in the sky are known to be star clusters, nebuale and galaxies. A popular astronomy challenge is to observe as many Messier objects as possible in a single night. A fun photographic challenge is to capture images of all 109 objects. I recorded these a few nights ago when it happened to be clear, but the slightly gibbous moon was too bright to bring out any serious detail and dew began to coat the camera later in the night too.
The first image is M1, the Crab Nebula. It is the remains of a star that went supernova, and supposedly the stellar explosion could be seen in daylight in 1054 A.D. The bright star in the image is called Tianguan, in the constellation Taurus, just above Orion's head.
In the second image is M108, an almost edge-on spiral galaxy, and my field of view was inadverdently wide enough to also capture M97, a so-called planetary nebula, the remains of a Sun-like star that has reached the end of its life. The bright star in the image is Merak, one of the stars in the scoop of the Big Dipper.
Hopefully I'll capture better images of these this year, but so far , 3 out of 109 objects captured!
#messiercatalogue #messier1 #crabnebula #messier97 #owlnebula #messier108 #deepskyphotography #astrophotography