M1, NGC 1952. The Crab nebula.

[RobH]

Messier 1, the Crab nebula, is a supernova remnant about 6,500 ly away from us with a diameter of about 11 ly.

It is still expanding at between 1200 and 1800kps.

In the centre is the remains of the progenitor star, a neutron star about 30km in diameter, containing the mass of the sun and spinning every 30.2 ms.

It was recorded on July 4th 1054 by Chinese and arab astronomers and at magnitude -6, was visible in daylight.

M1 exploded around 4500BC.

This is an interesting time as the first urban populations were in existence in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and it’s believed the wheel was developed here and in India at this time.

The plough was introduced in Europe, and the nearest visible star to the North Celestial pole was Theta Bootis.

The most important thing by far though, was that this is the time beer brewing was developed!! :hello2:

Imaged using 3 scopes and 3 cameras with data collected from December 2007 until September 2009.

The nebula is data from an Atik 16HRC, and my old 14” LX200GPS @ F6 ish

Added to this is luminance data from a TMB152 @ F8, Starlight Xpress SXVF H16, and RGB data from a WO 80mm with an Atik 16HR.

The starfield is from the TMB luminance data, and WO RGB.

The old data was reprocessed before adding it, and was blended by using the TMB luminance data to soften it a little.

Scaling done with Registar.

Full size images are here….

Flickr Photo Download: M1-SEPT 2009

Flickr Photo Download: M1-SEPT 2009 crop

Cheers

Rob

[trevboyd]

Looks really nice, Rob - I love the filament detail in M1 The background info is interesting as always - thanks for sharing!

Trev

[dark knight]

Another fantastic, informative piece of work Rob..I love all the background information as well as the images....every time I think what you do cannot be topped, you produce another dazzler..Just for fun imagine if you had to keep all your images as paper copies, how much space do you think they would take up? that should keep you busy for a while....:D

[skye at night]

hello rob..

nice colours..

what was the resultant magnification factor on that image then?

Steve

[TakMan]

That's a great result Rob, from a lot of hard work imaging and processing - the joys of having an observatory!

Also liked the history lesson to accompany the shot - thanks!

Damian

[RobH]

Magnification factor....no idea!!

Perhaps the originals were a bit too red in the nebula....I've rebalanced slightly now.

Cheers

Rob

[Tim]

No stopping you now with Registar Rob

I like the way you have brought out the white cloudy nebulosity on that, gives it a very 3D rounded look.

[RobH]

I've reposted the hi res versions on Flikr, but can't edit my post to put them into it.

Admin, any chance of putting in these new URL's?

Flickr Photo Download: M1-SEPT 2009-red reduced crop

Flickr Photo Download: M1-SEPT 2009-red reduced

Cheers

Rob

[Taff]

Hi Rob' That's a nice write up about M1.And great captures to finish it off nice coloures' there of the neb.Mark

[Psychobilly]

So is Registar better than Maxim for combining data then

Superb capture and processing Mr H

Peter...

[Paxo]

Superb colour and detail in them shots Rob. Any thought of adding some NB data to this?

Steve..

[RobH]

Hello Steve,

There is already some Ha added as a partial luminance layer in this. It's what has brought the filamentary detail out.

Cheers

Rob

[JCJC]

Really like the colours in the starfield, there is so much variation in the stars.

Registar seems to work so well.

Jordan

[narrowbandpaul]

rob, wow.

You can clearly see the material around the pulsar itself, right in the core......

the crab is a great emission line target.....you already got the Ha...;-)

[barkis]

Exciting images Rob. You certainly put a lot of effort into

your work, and the detailed Info. on the object is a great touch too.

Ron.

[Sam]

Another stunning image Rob! very very nice and I especially like the colour in the stars.

Sam

[moocher]

WOW you really do produce some GREAT images Rob!!!!

Alan:)

[Mark at Beaufort]

Hello Rob - excellent quality - your work is always top notch. The colours in the background stars is amazing and the detail in M1 is brilliant.

Will you be bringing the TMB152 to SGL5?

Look forward to seeing you again.

Regards

Mark

[RobH]

Will you be bringing the TMB152 to SGL5?

Mark

Thanks Mark.

No, I'm afraid the TMB is only ever moving from the observatory if Olly gets an AP1200 or Paramount down at Les Granges...then I might just have to drag it down there for a session

It's not so much the scope, but there's no way that I'm going to remove the AP1200 from the pier and lose the alignment I've got now, which took a good week to perfect!

Cheers

Rob

[Mark at Beaufort]

Understand Rob. Well I look forward to seeing you, Amanda and Nelson next year. Perhaps I will be able to have a peep at your laptop and see the astro photos in the raw!!

Mark

[Beyond_Vision]

Very nicely put together Rob a top job as usual

Regards

Kevin

[ollypenrice]

One of your best! More interesting by far than most M1 images thanks to the excellent colour both in the nebula and the starfield, and due also to the simultaneous presence of the gaseous and filamentary components. It's usually one or the other.

Chapeau!

Olly

PS We at Les Granges are happy to accept and recycle unwanted Paramount and AP mounts...

[Tom OD]

Lovely crab detail and great star colour, another excellent shot Rob. I also find the white-ish nebula at the center helps to add to the filaments standing out.

Tom.