Crab Nebula (M1)


In 1054 astronomers in the middle east and Asia recorded the appearance of a supernova.  The star was so bright that for several weeks it could be seen in the daytime.  The Crab Nebula is the remnants of that supernova and its relatively young age explains why it is more dense and complex than most such nebulae.  It is approximately 6,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation  Taurus.  The image consists of H-alpha, OIII, and SII narrowband images, so the color is not exactly true, but I adjusted it to optimize color accuracy and differentiation between the three parts.

This image was captured at Wa-chur-ed Observatory over three nights in October of 2012.  In fact, they turned out to be the last 3 nights of decent night skies for the year.  

Scope: AP142 at f/7.5
Mount: AP Mach1
Camera: QSI 583 at –25C
Exposure: 6 x 1800s H-a, 6 X 1800s OIII, 4 x 1800s SII (8 hrs total)


About Greg Marshall

I am a retired electronics engineer and after a few months of enjoying my leisure I began to miss doing product development. My astronomy hobby always needed new solutions to unique problems, so I decided that whenever I came up with a good solution I would try to make it available to others.

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