M1, the Crab nebula
The Crab nebula (M1) is a supernova remnant in Taurus. Chinese astronomers described in 1054 a new bright star in Taurus which was visible in the daylight for 23 days and seen in the night sky for nearly two years. The Crab nebula is the remnant of that supernova explosion, which has been expanding over the years. Click here for a higher resolution image
To obtain this image, narrowband filters were used to isolate the emission lines of singly ionized Hydrogen (H alpha), double ionized Sulfur (SII) and triple ionized Oxygen (OIII), so that the color image reflects the distribution of these elements in the supernova remnant., where SII appears as Red, H alpha as Green and OIII as blue.
Telescope: Vixen VC200 L (VISAC).
CCD Camera: Sbig STL11000 with SII, H alpha and OIII filters.
Mount: ASA DDM 85 equatorial mount, unguided.
Focuser: Seletek Armadillo 2.
Acquisition software: ASA Autoslew and Sequence.Sub-exposures of 15 minutes each were obtained: 35 sub-exposures with the SII filter, 38 with the H alpha filter and 42 with the OIII filter. A total of 28 hours and 45 minutes of exposure were completed.
Processing software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight. The Hubble color palette was employed (SII: Red, H alpha: Green, OIII: Blue).
To obtain this image, narrowband filters were used to isolate the emission lines of singly ionized Hydrogen (H alpha), double ionized Sulfur (SII) and triple ionized Oxygen (OIII), so that the color image reflects the distribution of these elements in the supernova remnant., where SII appears as Red, H alpha as Green and OIII as blue.
Telescope: Vixen VC200 L (VISAC).
CCD Camera: Sbig STL11000 with SII, H alpha and OIII filters.
Mount: ASA DDM 85 equatorial mount, unguided.
Focuser: Seletek Armadillo 2.
Acquisition software: ASA Autoslew and Sequence.Sub-exposures of 15 minutes each were obtained: 35 sub-exposures with the SII filter, 38 with the H alpha filter and 42 with the OIII filter. A total of 28 hours and 45 minutes of exposure were completed.
Processing software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight. The Hubble color palette was employed (SII: Red, H alpha: Green, OIII: Blue).