Monday 13 May 2019

Terminator 2


Composite of RAW still images taken with the 127mm.Meade Apo refractor - a 2.5x Barlow and the Canon 600d DSLR - credit: Pip Stakkert
"A very disappointing night on the 12th of May 2019. A very clear sky, but high humidity, low temperatures and a waxing Moon, all conspired to prevent us imaging any deep sky fuzzies! We did however, enjoy glimpses of Jupiter and Saturn low between the rooftops in the early hours of the morning". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory - falling asleep in his cornflakes.

Wednesday 1 May 2019

Messier 61 - Starburst barred spiral galaxy


Messier 61 - Intermediate barred spiral galaxy in the Constellation Virgo - COAST Robotic Telescope -telescope.org -Open University - credit: Pip Stakkert


" Messier 61 is about the same size as the Milky Way, some 55 million light years distant and can be seen with a telescope in the constellation Virgo. It is face on as viewed from our planet and the spiral arms and central bar can be seen clearly in the above image. Unlike our galaxy, Messier 51 exhibits an exceptionally high rate of star formation. You can see the clusters of young hot blue stars along the spiral arms in the Hubble image below. A number of supernovae have been seen in this galaxy which also sports an immense active black hole at its centre" - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Image from the Hubble Space Telescope credit : ESA/Hubble & NASAAcknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler. - http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1324a/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26952115