SOCO IMAGE GALLERY


 

M 1 (NGC 1952)   Crab Nebula 

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant (SNR) located in the constellation Taurus. The explosion of the star that created M1 was first observed in early July of 1054. It was seen by numerous observers around the world, although the best records of its appearance and duration are from China. With an estimated visual magnitude between -4 and -7.5, it was bright enough to be easily seen in the daytime sky. It was visible in the night sky until late April of 1056.
The nebula that resulted from the supernova was first observed by the English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. Messier independently discovered the SNR in 1758. This object was the inspiration for Messier compiling his list of "nebulous objects" since it closely resembled the comets that he was searching for. It was Lord Rosse who is responsible for giving it the name "Crab Nebula", although he (like previous observers) thought it consisted of stars. It wasn't until the early 18th Century that the true physical nature of the nebula was recognized.
M 1 has a visual magnitude of 8.4 and lies at a distance of around 6200 LY. The SNR currently measures around 10 LY in diameter and is expanding at a rate of 1160 to 2500 km/sec. The pulsar (what remains of the exploded star) at the center of M1 can be observed in visible light (visual magnitude 16) and has the designation CM Tauri (if you look closely at my image, you can see a small "trapezium" of four stars near the center of the nebula— CM Tauri is the smallest of the four). It emits pulses of light and radio waves with a frequency of 33.085 milliseconds. It is one of only a few optical pulars currently known.

Date(s) Acquired: 25 March 2014
Telescope: Orion 120mm EON Apochromatic Refractor
Camera: QSI Model 583 with TeleVue 2X PowerMate Focal Extender

 

   Exposure Time (min) 
   Number of Exposures
   RGB
   5
   
   -
   
   -
   OIII
   -
   RGB
   6
   
   0
   
   0
   OIII
   0

 

Processing:
Master red, green, and blue images created using SuperSIAM.
Color composite image created using Basic Processing Procedure III.
Color composite image contrast-stretched using Adobe Photoshop.




 

 

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