Cracked the Crab!

[Special K]

Been quite a while since I have wielded the refractor but I set out last night to locate the Cats Eye planetary neb, and also pick up M1 later. Due to location and timing I didn’t get the cat but in the wee hours I got up to a glorious sky, still, quiet, and strikingly beautiful with the winter array swung round the back of the house. Having Jupiter gleaming westward really adds to the excitement!  Bagging the Crab was no problem, and I recall failing to get a decent look in previous attempts. An O-III with a 9mm EP seemed to be the best view.  As usual with nebulae our cones don’t register anything so it’s all grey but definitely oval in shape.

 It’s been over 1000 years since this supernova and it got me thinking why this Messier is the first in his catalogue.  Is it because at that time the nova was more prominent?  It would be quite spectacular for us to have a similar event in this time.  Makes me wonder if Betelgeuse has blown many years ago and that lightshow is on its way!  😊

 

[Nik271]

39 minutes ago, Special K said:

 It’s been over 1000 years since this supernova and it got me thinking why this Messier is the first in his catalogue.  Is it because at that time the nova was more prominent? 

I think it was the first 'comet look-alike' object observed by Messier. His records show he found it on 12 September 1758 when searching for a comet. It turned  out that it was already seen by John Bevis in 1731 so he is credited as the original discoverer.

[Mr Spock]

After 50 years of observing I got my first view earlier this year. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be and in my B6 skies more difficult than you would think.

[johnturley]

7 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

After 50 years of observing I got my first view earlier this year. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be and in my B6 skies more difficult than you would think.

It's not easy to spot visually under light polluted skies, I've seen it several times through my 14in Newtonian, but it's not obvious, also been able to make it out through my Esprit 150.

The attached photo was a processed (in Lightroom) 30 second single shot image taken with a Canon 6D digital SLR through my 14in Newtonian. I'm not into making multi images using darks and flats etc. for Deep Sky objects, and processing with Pixinsight or other dedicated deep sky software. It must have been an early attempt with my Canon 6D, I subsequently found that the vignetting of the image, can be largely cured by using a 48mm to Canon adaptor rather than the commonplace M42.  

John 

Edited November 11, 2023 by johnturley

[tomato]

Nice shot, reminds me of what we used to get in the emulsion film era.

[Zermelo]

Yes, the Crab seems to be much easier from darker locations. I'm mid B4, and had no trouble finding it first time.

[globular]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

I think it was the first 'comet look-alike' object observed by Messier. His records show he found it on 12 September 1758 when searching for a comet. It turned  out that it was already seen by John Bevis in 1731 so he is credited as the original discoverer.

It was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. But I guess Messier didn't know that.

[bosun21]

4 minutes ago, globular said:

It was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. But I guess Messier didn't know that.

Yes, and apparently it was so bright it was visible during the day.

[mikeDnight]

Back in the early 80's the Crab was an easy catch in my 12X60 binoculars. How things have changed! A bit like M51, it's a good measure of transparency and if you can see either with relative ease, there's a fair chance you'll see most other M objects easily. 

[Bugdozer]

3 hours ago, globular said:

It was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. But I guess Messier didn't know that.

Not strictly true. The supernova that created it was observed by the Chinese, but the subsequent nebula we have now was not. When it was discovered, it was not initially connected with the Chinese observations, because its nature wasn't understood. 

I saw it for the first time last week, for a couple of minutes before my next door neighbour turned on her kitchen light and blasted my night vision to pieces. I managed to get a proper look from a decent dark sky location last night, and I could see it easily in my 5 inch scope. Daughter wasn't impressed, having just viewed the Orion Nebula immediately beforehand, I think she found the Crab a bit of a letdown! 

 

[John]

I've often had the job of showing folks the famous Crab Nebula at outreach events with my astro society. To be honest it is probably the least enjoyable target to try and share because you knew, despite it's fame, that folks were either not going to be able to see it or would be rather underwhelmed if they could see that faint "S" shaped smudge and that was even when I was using my 12 inch dob !

I've never managed to see the Crab with binoculars, so far at least. I do observe it fairly regularly with my scopes during the appropriate season but it's more of a visit for old times sake than with any expectation of a spectacular view.

That is sometimes the problem when you have a largish scope at an outreach event - you tend to get assigned the fainter targets. My "antidote" to a faint, vague thing like the Crab is to find a nice bright globular cluster and get the magnification up to 150x - 200x. That usually makes more of an impression 🙂

 

[Paul M]

The Crab is by far my favorite DSO as an object to ponder and admire in images, not at the eyepiece.

Although it's some time since I looked at it visually, I seem to remember it being easy ish  in my old 6" Fullerscopes Newt. 

Anyway, as a boy I remember reading about it and admiring it. It looks exactly as advertised, an exploded star! 💥 And with the added excitement of a Pulsar!

What's not to like? Well, yeah I can see why it underwhelms at outreach...

My avatar is one of my own Crab images. I don't do it justice but I like to try every season.

[Captain Scarlet]

Well done on getting that tick.
I’ve seen M1 fairly regularly in my 15x56 binoculars, from a 21.8 location (equates to around Bortle 2-3 though I don’t agree with much of that scale). When I lived 20 miles from central London, though, it was quite impossible.

Magnus

Edited November 11, 2023 by Captain Scarlet

[Special K]

13 hours ago, Paul M said:

 

My avatar is one of my own Crab images. I don't do it justice but I like to try every season.

That’s an avatar to be proud of, Paul!  

[jjohnson3803]

I've never seen it with any of my refractors, but I live in nasty light pollution, B7 or maybe B8.  One observing article said you need dark skies and no moon to have a decent chance of snagging it and that its angular size is surprisingly large.

If I ever make to a dark site at the right time of year, it's definitely on my target list.  I have an irrational fear though that if I do see it, I'll be cursed with perpetual cloudy skies or something.  🤪

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by jjohnson3803

[Bugdozer]

On 12/11/2023 at 19:11, jjohnson3803 said:

I've never seen it with any of my refractors, but I live in nasty light pollution, B7 or maybe B8.  One observing article said you need dark skies and no moon to have a decent chance of snagging it and that its angular size is surprisingly large.

.  🤪

 

The first time I saw it, there was a gibbous moon on the same side of the sky, so I assumed I was being hopelessly optimistic in even trying. I was pleasantly surprised until I was blinded by my neighbour. 

[badhex]

It is a shame that it doesn't really live up to its reputation. I recall after trying many times from Bortle 7/8 (I was clearly dreaming, with only a 4" frac at my disposal), I eventually got it last year from a good dark B4 sky with the same scope, and was thoroughly unimpressed. I am in not-so-good B4 skies at the moment (lots of local LP) and observed it a couple of nights ago. I wrote in my notes "Hunted down M1 as I was near, but just really an unimpressive grey smudge, regardless of FL" 

Sidenote: many years ago I had a couple of Redclaw crabs (Perisesarma bidens) and named them Nebula and Pulsar 🙂

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have spotted the Crab many times with binoculars, but always from reasonably good sites (Bortle 4 or better). A UHC filter does make it pop out quite well under more polluted skies. Managed to get 3 h 37 min worth of data with an L-eNhance filter using a non-cooled camera and my 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton some years back. Not bad from a Bortle 5 location. Still needs more data, but the weather hasn't been kind, of late

[wookie1965]

I have spotted twice once from home in the 10" with a UHC filter not the most spectacular objects but a good object to tick off. 

[lunator]

The best view I had of the crab was in a friend's back garden in East Devon. We used their 10" Mak Newt. It was really bright. It looked like a thumbprint with some very obvious detail. A few days later I returned home to London and decided to look at it with my OMC250. I could just about make something out. It really made me understand how Light polluted my skies were and how envious of dark skies I was 😁.

Cheers

Ian

[John]

I managed to spot the Crab tonight with my 100mm refractor. No filter used. At 64x it was faint but obvious. Larger than I recall (it's been a while .....)

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I saw it the other night using my 90mm SvBony frac and my 7-21mm zoom. It was not that brilliant but at least I saw it.

[Mr Spock]

This year I'll give it a go with the 4", though I suspect I have too much LP to see it. Most likely I'll use the 12" with the 30mm UFF; I think that's what I used last time.

[RobertI]

13 hours ago, John said:

Larger than I recall (it's been a while .....)

That’s because it’s expanding John. 😉

 

On 11/11/2023 at 08:35, Special K said:

Been quite a while since I have wielded the refractor but I set out last night to locate the Cats Eye planetary neb, and also pick up M1 later. Due to location and timing I didn’t get the cat but in the wee hours I got up to a glorious sky, still, quiet, and strikingly beautiful with the winter array swung round the back of the house. Having Jupiter gleaming westward really adds to the excitement!  Bagging the Crab was no problem, and I recall failing to get a decent look in previous attempts. An O-III with a 9mm EP seemed to be the best view.  As usual with nebulae our cones don’t register anything so it’s all grey but definitely oval in shape.

 It’s been over 1000 years since this supernova and it got me thinking why this Messier is the first in his catalogue.  Is it because at that time the nova was more prominent?  It would be quite spectacular for us to have a similar event in this time.  Makes me wonder if Betelgeuse has blown many years ago and that lightshow is on its way!  😊

 

Well done on cracking the crab Kevin. Definitely something that seems to have become more tricky over the years as skies deteriorate. Interestingly as some others have said, it seemed bigger than I remember during a recent observation. For me, it’s one of those objects that has very little of interest to actually observe - no core, shape, colour, mottling , etc, just a grey oval smudge. Perhaps I’m just a poor observer! 

[CCD-Freak]

I cracked it a few weeks ago as I was testing an imaging setup from my Bortle 6 back yard. 

50 x 3 minutes (2.5 hours total)   AT6RC with a ASI533MCp riding on a GEM45 mount.