M1 Crab Nebula in Taurus

Messier 1 is better known as the Crab Nebula. Charles Messier originally mistook Messier 1 for Halley’s Comet, which inspired him to create his famous catalogue of celestial objects that might be mistaken for comets.

 

The Crab Nebula is an expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054 AD, as likely did the Native Americans. The glowing relic has been expanding since the star exploded, and it is now approximately 11 light-years in width.

 

The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mostly of hydrogen. The blue in the filaments in the outer part of the nebula represents neutral oxygen. These elements were expelled during the supernova explosion.

 

A rapidly spinning neutron star (the ultra-dense core of the exploded star) is embedded in the centre of the Crab Nebula. Electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around the star’s magnetic field lines produce the eerie blue light in the interior of the nebula. The neutron star, like a lighthouse, ejects twin beams of radiation that make it appear to pulse 30 times per second as it rotates.

 

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Telescope: Celestron C11-A XLT Schmidt Cassegrain OTA

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro

 

Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Plus

Main Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro at -10C

Filter: Optolong L-eNhance filter

Focuser: ZWO EAF

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini guidecam

Guide via: ZWO OAG

 

Stacked from:

Lights 47 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Darks 30 at 120 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Flat 30 at 7.6 seconds, gain 101, temp -10C

Dark Flat 30 at 7.6 seconds, gain 101 temp -10C

 

Bortle 4 sky.

Integrated the saved frames in Astro Pixel Processor.

Processed in Pixinsight

Captions added in Photoshop CS4

 

 

Done