M1

Object: Messier 1 (M1, NGC 1952),

Type: Super Nova Remnant

Distance: 6500 Light Years (Approx) Constellation: Taurus
Date: 27th October 08
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 41 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800
Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a non linear stretch or DDP. 7

Notes: Observed by a Chinese astronomers on July 4th 1054 AD, the Guest star was seen in daylight for 23 days and visible to the naked eye in the night sky for a staggering 653 nights.

Approx 10 Light years diamater expanding at 1,800 km/sec.

At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a rotating neutron star, which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

I am not entirely happy with this shot a bit more processing perhaps or a new series without frosty optics I really wanted to glimpse the Pulsar.

Back In Time: As the light left M1 we travel back to the year 4493BC. Chronicles suggest early Mesopotamian cultures in present day Iraq and Egyptian civilizations on the Nile. In England the Neolithic period was just commencing and Stonehenge wasn't far off being constructed.