The Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant...

[Richard Hather]

Observing Information

DSO - M1 Crab Nebula/ Capella/ Betelgeuse/Orion Nebula/Sirius/Geminids Meteor shower

Date - 12/12/17

Time - 09:00-00:30

Lunar Phase - 33% Waning Crescent

Seeing - Excellent 

Equipment - 12” Dobsonian 

Eyepieces - ES 100
20-14-9. ES 82 32

Additional info - What a lovely night of observing it was a little nippy, -3 has to be one of the coldest sessions I’ve had I think but well worth it ?
So we’re to begin, my main target of the night was the M1 Crab Nebula this target has been on my list for a while now and tonight seemed like ideal conditions and were it was situated in the sky with no moon up made me think I stood a good chance of observing it.
I setup my scope around 19:00 and left it a good 2 hours to cool down before heading out around 21:00.
The scope nicely cooled and me sufficiently wrapped up and ready I instantly got to work trying to track down this supernova remnant.
Orion was my first stop then north to El Nath then onto Zeta Tauri south of El Nath.
Even though I knew i was definitely in the right area it took me a while to actually see the object but eventually I saw it as a faint ghostly smudge, it was the type of object which benefited from my LP filter and averted vision but still amazing to observe and to sketch mainly because of the star field beautiful.
At this point I wanted to check out some stars Sirius/Betelgeuse and the double Capella were lovely to observe as always. 
I then couldn’t resist a quick observation of the Orion Nebula with all my mags at my disposal and I have to say I’ve never seen as much detail in my UHC filter even the stars were more prominent then usual I was tempted to sketch it for the second time in 6 months but resisted the urge for the promise of fireworks.
So onto what in my opinion was the highlight of the night, the Geminids 
Meteor shower at around 23:30 I decided to sit down in my wicker chair with my flask of tea and just gaze in awww and I was rewarded with what must have been a dozen or more by 00:30.
So in conclusion a night with only 1 new target observed but I will take more from last nights session then 1 target ticked of my list or sketched for that matter.
Last night was a night were I got lost just looking up at the sky and watching rock and ice burn up in our atmosphere simply beautiful ? 

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The now-current name is due to William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, who observed the object in 1840 using a 36-inch telescope and produced a drawing that looked somewhat like a crab.[5] Corresponding to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054, the nebula was observed later by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

Clear skies ✨?????

Richard

[mariosi]

Richard,

Wonderful night observation and sketch of Messier 1 !

Marios 

 

[Richard Hather]

8 minutes ago, mariosi said:

Richard,

Wonderful night observation and sketch of Messier 1 !

Marios 

 

Cheers Marios it certainly was a wonderful night I hope there’s one more in store before Christmas ?

[des anderson]

Well, someone enjoyed there selves. That was a great report and the sketch of M1 IS....... fantastic. Des

[Richard Hather]

58 minutes ago, des anderson said:

Well, someone enjoyed there selves. That was a great report and the sketch of M1 IS....... fantastic. Des

I certainly did Des a truly beautiful night ?

Thank you for your kind words M1

was a difficult target but worth it ?