The dogs go hunting.

As mentioned in the previous post this was the first time in a month the kit had been powered up. A fellow Breckland AS member has emailed an alert stating a new type II supernova has been discovered near the core of the barred spiral galaxy M106 in Canes Venatici (the hunting dogs). A quick set up and focus gave me the scope pointing near verticle. PHD had it's guide star and ran its set up. A few minutes later everything was ready to go. I programmed my usual 20 minute exposures and left it to it. I returned after the first image to find everything had gone haywire. PHD had lost its star nearly 15 minutes earlier. I spent the next hour running tests and shorter subs not to capture anything worth keeping. All I could manage was 3 x 3 minute exposures. Even these show elongated stars. Very annoyed.

 It appears that a star 23.5 million light years away a rare red supergiant star ended it's life in the most violent way. Nuclear fusion burns in it's core creating heavier elements. Fusion stops at the production of iron from Silicon. With no more energy being created to continue cooking the elements, Gravity takes over, collapsing the star and the resulting shockwave tears the star apart. Barely visible here the nova is situated just to the left of the bright core.

The only that redeems itself is the capture of a few NGC's. NGC 4248 just below M106. below him the pair NGC 4231 & NGC 4232 Bottom left is NGC 4217 & lower right NGC 4220.

A duo of galaxies & a supernova

Still shining bright supernova 2014j looks amazing.

Weather forecast for the next week or so pretty shocking again. I would love to capture it 1 more time as it fades into the background. I am very happy with the depth of detail captured.

M82 Nova Wide field.

For 2 nights in a row we have been treated to clear skies. I have treated my camera again to the amazing supernova in the nearby galaxy of M82. I wanted a wide field shot of the area. Here is the result of 2 hours of exposure in 10 minute sub frames.

 

I am very happy with the dust lanes in M81. Dark dust visible circling the galaxy core.

 

Unfortunatly astronomy for the next week will take a back seat. I am working a set of nights from Monday bad timing with the moon out of the way.

 

 

Supernova 2014J

Sometimes the luck just holds. Well this time anyway. If you wander back through my blog or find my post on M95 april 2012. The avid nova watchers will remember the eruption in M95 sn2012aw. This happened just as I started at work a set of nights. We only do 2 sets a year and could not believe my misfortune in having to work when the skies were clear. Now go back a little futher to sept 2011 and sn 2011fe in M101. We were about to move and I had dismantled the observatory in preparation.

But not this time fellow bloggers. I had imaged m82 back in Oct testing out my new kit (left pic) and the wow amazing sn 2014J captured just last night 1 day after it's discovery. I am sure at this moment they are searching through Hubble archives to find the progenitor. We know already it is a type 1a and a few theories exist as to the fate of this white dwarf star.

Anyway here is my pic.

I am trying to do a blink comparison aswell. I will post it if I manage it. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sn2013am

A type II supernova was discovered on 21st March in a galaxy far far away. About 35 Million light years away in M65. Image 1 shows the pic I took just a few days before core collapse. Pic 2 was I took last night showing the cataclysmic collapse and explosion of a star maybe 40 times larger than our own sun. Dust in the galaxy has obscured some of the light from reaching us and it is not as bright as predicted. Just so you can really get a grip on reality here this happened 35 million years ago.

 

This as I mentioned in a previous post is my second Supernova imaged.

Supernova in M65 SN 2013am

Spotted on March 21 that M. Sugano, of Kakogawa, Japan had spotted a new supernova in the galaxy M65 – the 65th entry in Messier’s catalog of 110 objects – amateur astronomers expected the star to brighten to magnitude 11 or 12, shiny enough to nab in even a pedestrian 4.5-inch reflector.

Only 7 days previous I had spent the first clear night since christmas. I though I would have a go at an old favourite the Leo triplet. From my image below M65 is the upper galaxy of the trio and of course no supernova. The next clear sky opportunity I get I will have another go and image my second supernova. Previous in M95 last year. http://www.malcsastro.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/M95

Within a week, a typical nearby supernova beams brightly enough to show in amateur telescopes. Not 2013am. It’s been 10 days and the star remains stubbornly faint. Professional astronomers examined the light of the supernova on March 22 and gleaned a couple interesting tidbits. First, the blast is tearing the it apart, sending debris into space at over 4,300 miles (7,000 km) per second. Second, the star’s light is “reddened” or dimmed by dust along our line of sight.

If it wasn't for bad luck

       I would have no luck at all. Is how the saying goes. Mystic Malc predicted a couple of weeks ago that we would indeed have a good week of clear skies last week. So we did, BUT I was not going to see any of them. Last monday to this Sunday inclusive was my first set of  nights on the night shift this year. Here continueth the run of bad luck.
      So if we skip back to last May I dismantled my observatory and packed everything away while we moved and of course missed Sn2011dh in M51 last June. Whilst I was building the new observatory last September I missed sn2011fe in M101.
      On the 23rd of Feb this year I imaged a wide field inc M95

and of course saw no Supernova See pic.Tonight is my first night at home again and guess what the clouds have rolled in. Am I destined to miss every Supernova.




To continue the run of misfortune. Last night 10/4/12 saw a reasonably clear. Google said the clear sky wouldn't last so I hastily set up and focussed on a set up star. Here in is where the problem lies M95 was a good 60 degrees across the sky and I completly forgot to refocus. Looks like a tenth of a mm out. But the good news is I have managed to get my first image of the sn2012aw.