Object

M1 (NGC 1952)

Object Information

Image information

Object Type

Supernova Remnant

Instrument

LX200GPS 14” OTA @ F5.1 effective FL≈1811mm

Constellation

Tarus

Guiding

SXV / SkyWatcher 80mm achro @ F/6

Magnitude

+8.4

Focal Reducer

Optec NextGen 0.5x

Coordinates

RA 15:34.5 Dec +22:01

Mount

Paramount ME

Size

6 x 4 arc min

Location

Stoney Hills, S.E England

Distance

6300Light Years

Acquisition Date

6 - 12th February 2008

Notes

In 1054 there suddenly appeared an new star in the sky. This was recorded by Chinese astronomers, amongst others, and was so bright that it was visable in daylight. This was the light from a star which had exploded into a supernova.The residue from this explosion is the Crab Nebula which is still expanding as it blasts into space today.

Currently M1 is around 10 light years in diameter and expanding at 1800 km/s. At the scale of the image above it is growing by 1 pixel every 4 years.

The original star was not compleatly destroyed and remains as a Pulser rotating about 30 times a second. It can be seen in the image as the lower of the pair of stars just left of center.

M1 was originally discovered by John Beavis in 1731

References;

http://www.seds.org/messier/M/m001.html

Capture Device

Starlight-Xpress SXV-H9 Sony ICX285AL Exview HAD Cooled CCD Array 1392 x 1040 @ 6.45uM / Pixel 

Filter Type

Astronomik Type IIc RGB

Colour Technique

L(Ha) R(Ha)GB

FOV

≈16.38 x 12.24 arc mins (0.706 arcsec/pixel) before cropping

Exposure

426 m (7.1 hours) Total

Integration

Ha 12nm (21x 800 sec bin 1x1)

R = 100% Ha

G (12 x 300 sec bin 2x2)

B (12 x 430 sec bin 2x2)

Notes

This image uses Hydrogen Alpha light to provide the luminance and for the Red colour channel. This was found to give the most detail to the fine filamentary structures in the Crab Nebula. Conventional clear filtered luminance data was gathered along with red information but this was not used in the final image.

Frames were Bias calibrated only and RGB combined in Maxim. Post processing with levels and sharpening and the addition of luminace (Ha) in Photoshop.