The Owl Planetary Nebula

 

The Owl Planetary Nebula, Messier 97.
The COAST robotic telescope SHO filters, Mount Teide, Tenerife,
Open University, telescope.org. Images processed by Kurt Thrust

Planetary nebulae have nothing at all to do with planets. They are the glowing gas 'left overs' from stars, which having run out of hydrogen to fuse, consequently left the main sequence to end their existence as white dwarf stars surrounded by glowing ionised gas shed by the progenitor stars earlier in the process.  

The Owl Nebula may be found in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and is approximately 2000 light years distant. The progenitor star, some 8000 years ago, swelled to become a red giant and then  over a period of time shed mass in three shells. The nebula contains hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur and is currently approximately 2 light years in diameter. At its centre a white dwarf star is condensing, with an effective temperature of 123,000K. For comparison our sun has an effective temperature of just under 6000K. So white dwarf stars are very very hot even though nuclear fusion has long stopped. Over aeons, white dwarf stars will lose their residual heat, cool to absolute zero and become cold black dwarf stars.

The Owl Nebula cannot be seen with the naked eye or with the aid of 10x50 binoculars but on a good clear night from a dark rural site, it might be glimpsed through a small telescope. - Joel Cairo CEO the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Full Moon March 2024

 

The Full Moon -24 March 2024 66mm ED Altair Lightwave Refractor and QHY5111462c colour camera. Credit Pip Stakkert.

" Very pleased with the definition and detail in this image, which was largely the result of using James Ritson's latest Lunar macro for Affinity Photo 2 in combination with AstroSharp and AstroClean. We have also attached below a high coloured version and the softer version, which did not have James' macro applied". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Saturated colour version
Highlights the differences in albedo and changes in surface mineralogy.
Credit: Kurt Thrust

Asterism Greg 3 in the Constellation Leo Major

 

The asterism Greg 3 found by Greg Parker
 - COAST Robotic Telescope Mount Teide, Open University telescope .org.

" Asterisms are prominent groups or patterns of stars smaller than constellations. The 'Plough' is a very prominent asterism in the Northern Hemisphere sky and it's stars sit within the larger constellation Ursa Major- The Great Bear".- Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"Still awaiting a clear cloud free night here on the East Coast of the United Kingdom!

With so much time on our hands, Kurt directed the COAST Robotic Telescope on Tenerife to image the excellent asterism Greg 3 discovered by Greg Parker and so named for very obvious reasons. 

What on Earth has happened to the weather? It has even been poor in Tenerife.

Greg 3 may be found at - Right Ascension: 09h 38m 00.0s and Declination: +15° 17' 00", which puts the asterism between the constellations Leo Major and Cancer . The asterism covers about 15 minutes of arc in the night sky so about half that of the Moon.

Star map showing the location of Greg3 
 Map Credit: Astrometry Net

To see Greg 3 you will require a small telescope and an eyepiece delivering a magnification of approximately x80. The stars in the asterism range in magnitude between 8 and 11, are therefore quite faint and well below what might be seen with the naked eye.

Greg Parker is an extraordinarily talented imager and excels in his portraiture of stars! We recommend spending time  viewing his astrophotography, which is showcased on his 'New Forest Observatory' Blog!  follow the link:

New Forest Observatory

 

Here at the Jodrell Plank Observatory we cannot remember such a poor spring time for observing the night sky. But we are not downhearted! 

Lets hope for better nights to come!" - Joel Cairo CEO at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Interstellar glider

 

''Interstellar Glider' fractal art and astro-image collage
by Jodrell Plank sponsor  - George Roberts.
Fractal software INCENDIA.

With the weather preventing any views of galaxies, nebulae, stars and moons, the staff at the Jodrell Plank had time to consider and discuss the potential for interstellar travel using low mass robotic craft powered by coherent light beams from high energy lasers based here on Earth. One of the Observatory's generous sponsors and senior citizen scientist, George Roberts, made this image of a diaphanous robotic interstellar craft set against the back drop of deep space. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Solar Photosphere in March 2024

 

A part of the Sun's Photosphere captured with the 127mm Meade apo refractor and the QHY5111492c planetary camera at F7.5

The active Sunspot Group 3599 captured with the same telescope and camera but at F22

A copped section (Top left) of Sunspot Group 3599.

A cropped section (Bottom right) of Sunspot Group 3599.

Kurt Thrust captured these images from the Jodrell Plank Observatory on 06-03-2024. The upper atmosphere at the time was a bit hazy and consequently the images are a little 'soft' . After all the dreadful weather we have experienced recently, here on the East Coast of England, actually being able to see the Sun was a real treat!

The Sun is our nearest star and the photons of sunlight we captured with our telescope and camera took approximately 9 minutes to travel the 150 million kilometres from the Sun to the Lowestoft - Karl Segin outreach coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The venerable 127mm Meade Apo telescope with white light filters in place for imaging the Sun safely in white light.

Last look at the Winter Constellations Orion, Gemini, Taurus and Monoceros.

 

No shortage of Hydrogen alpha light looking South from the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR with Sigma EX wide field lens all mounted on the Star Adventurer EQ mini-rig. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert 

"The southern sky provides a wonderful vista awash with Hydrogen Alpha light. The constellations; Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer and Monoceros can be seen in the above widefield image with their associated clouds of molecular gas and nebulae". Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Gemini, the Jelly Fish and Monkey Nebulae

The Jelly Fish Nebula IC443 and open star cluster Messier 35 - Canon 600d DSLR and Samyang 135mm fixed lens at F2. Stack of 30x2 minute sub lights at ISO800.

 

A widefield image showing the location of M35 at the foot of one of the twins.

The same image shown top - with added infra-red from the WISE space telescope. Credit: Kurt Thrust, Astrometry.net and NASA.

The constellation Gemini the twins is home to a number of interesting astronomical nebula and open star clusters which can be seen and imaged with a small telescope or camera lens. The open star cluster, Messier 35 can be seen through a pair of 10x50 binoculars. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

IC443 The Jelly Fish Nebula -COAST Robotic Telescope with SHO filters. Credit:: Open Observatories, Open University telescope.org

NGC2174 The Monkey Head Nebula -COAST Robotic Telescope with SHO filters. Credit:: Open Observatories, Open University telescope.org

Comet144P Kushida and Aldebaran

 

The bright alpha star in the Constellation  Taurus -Aldebaran and the periodic comet 144P Kushida February 2024. Composite image - using data from the COAST robotic telescope on Mount Teide, Tenerife and the Canon 600d DSLR at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Credit : Pip Stakkert and Open University, Open Observatories, telescope.org The bright star in the middle of the image is Aldebaran and the fuzzy green ball upper right edge is the comet.
 

"We had planned to image the comet's close visual encounter with Aldebaran from Lowestoft and had programmed the COAST Robotic telescope to take a similar image as a fall back if the weather at Lowestoft was poor. For the period of time the comet was close to Aldebaran the weather in Lowestoft was atrocious. Sadly Mount Teide was also crowned with cloud and our programmed image was delayed until the weather improved. By the time the COAST telescope captured an image, the comet had moved out of the robotic telescope's relatively small field of view, leaving just a picture of Aldebaran and the surrounding stars.

Not to be thwarted, we decided to make a composite image using cometary data that we had captured a week ago using our Canon 600d DSLR and a Samyang 135 lens and the COAST image of Aldebaran  using BVR filters. The difficult bit was determining the exact location of the comet against the unchanging star field. We did this by consulting on-line planetarium software and by studying images taken by other UK astro-imagers. We hope our composite imagery hits the spot.

Aldebaran is just over 65 light years distant from our Solar System whilst Comet 144P Kushida is much closer at approximately 112 million kilometres. This equates to being six light minutes away and virtually on our doorstep. As a periodic comet, Kushida never leaves our Solar System following an elliptical orbit. It visits the inner  most part of the Solar System approximately every 7 years. So all being well, we shall see it again in our 'neck of the woods'  in 2031".- Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 1, The Crab Nebula

 

Messier1 or Crab Nebula and expanding volume of ionized gas created when a star went supernova some 1000 years ago in the constellation Taurus. The image was taken through Sulphur11, Hydrogen alpha and Oygen111 filters (with Sulphur plotted to the red cannel, Hydrogen to the green channel and Oxygen to the blue channel - SHO) COAST Robotic Telescope Mt Teide, Tenerife Credit: Open University and telescope.org - Pip Stakkert data reduction.

We have previously posted an image like this before but unfortunately it has come to light that the team on Mount Teide had mis-labelled the H alpha and Oxygen111 filters. See even professional astronomers may make mistakes! Our previous image was therefore OSH and not HSO - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The above image with a luminosity layer added from a BVR filtered COAST image and then cropped and enlarged.

The central region of the BVR filtered image of M1 cropped and enlarged by Pip Stakkert.

 Somewhere within this maelstrom is a pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30x per second and left over from the collapse of a massive star in supernova 1000 years ago.

The Crab Nebula  previously published - HSO  OSH narrow band palette- Open University, telescope.org COAST robotic telescope. Credit Pip Stakkert Jodrell Plank Observatory

The wider aspects of Orion's Belt and Dagger

 

Space in and around Orion's Belt and the emission, reflection and dark nebulae.
Astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR with a clip in Triband filter. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust 

" Here in Lowestoft, the weather continues to vary on an hourly basis. The night sky on the 15-16th started off clear and steady but as the night went on, images of the stars began to soften as a very light mist moved in from the North Sea. The above image was created from a stack of 60x1minute exposures captured early in the evening whilst the sky was ok and individual subs showed sharp stars. I have had Pip Stakkert increase the image scale of two areas of the above image showing the nebulosity in greater detail. I have also added an image taken over twelve months ago showing the whole of the constellation striding across the horizon.

There are three common types of Nebulosity observable in the night sky:

Emission Nebula - quite the most common gas in space is hydrogen which is comprised from one proton and one electron. When the gas is excited (gains energy from the light of a nearby star) the electron jumps to a higher level. At some future time the electron will return to a lower electron state and when it does so it emits a photon of light having a frequency associated with the size of the jump. Our cameras are like a fisherman's net but instead of catching fish they capture photons. Our astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR camera is very good at catching photons having a wavelength associated with Hydrogen alpha emissions (656 nano metres) . The glowing red you see in our images is Hydrogen alpha emission. The Universe is awash with this light. The eagle eyed amongst our readers will notice some blue-magenta glows in our images and some of this is associated with similar energy transitions in atoms of Oxygen.

Reflection Nebula - in star clusters and generally in and around stars space, is full of dust. Where there are very young and large stars the space nearby is irradiated with their bright ultra violet light. If nearby there is a cloud of dust the UV light is reflected by it and we see a glowing blue reflection nebula.

Dark Nebula  - When a cloud of dense dust sits between us and an emission nebula we see what appears to be a dark black hole in the sky. This is a dark nebula and a prime example is the Horsehead nebula which can be seen in the next image below.

The great Orion Molecular Cloud shown in our images is the brightest visible in the night sky. It is just visible to the naked eye in Orion's dagger which hangs from his Belt (the prominent three stars in a line). It shows well in binoculars but will look green rather than red primarily because your dark adapted eyes see green light better than red. Although the night sky has many areas of emission nebulosity, most require a sensitive camera to show them" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The emission Flame Nebula top left, reflection nebula
 around some of the brighter blue stars
  and the dark Horsehead Nebula.

The Running Man Nebula top primarily showing both
Emission and Reflection Nebulosity.
 The Great Orion Molecular Cloud showing all three types of nebulosity.

The Constellation Orion striding over the horizon and the Visitor Centre
 at Carlton Marshes, Lowestoft.

Winter Highlights with a fast 50mm lens

 

The Constellation Auriga the charioteer widefield.

                       

The Constellation Gemini the twins widefield.

                          

Part of the Constellation Gemini the twins featuring
the bright stars Castor and Pollux

The Constellation Orion the hunter.

Images credit: Pip Stakkert. Two Canon DSLRs were used one astro-modded and with an integral clip in Altair Astro Triband filter. Canon F1.4 and f=50mm fixed lens. All mounted on a Star Adventurer EQ mount. Stack of 2 minute exposures each image about 1 hour in total. Processed primarily using Affinity Photo2

"The winter sky is full of interesting astronomical features and awash with glowing red hydrogen gas and clouds of dark cold dust. The weather finally improved in Lowestoft and we enjoyed the benefit of two consecutive moonlight free and cloud free nights on the 9-10th and 10-11th of January 2024.

The above images were taken with two Canon DSLR cameras, a fast F1.4 f=50mm lens and an Altair Astro Triband filter. The cameras were mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount which enabled exposures of 2 minutes in length which ensured stars were captured as points of light without any apparent trailing due to the Earth's rotation. The Earth spins about its north south axis 15 degrees every hour, which when you think about it is quite extraordinary!

 The eagle eyed of our readers will note the Flaming Star Nebula in the image of Auriga and a number of nebulae  in Orion including; Barnards Loop, the Great Orion Molecular Cloud, The Flame Nebula, the Running Man Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and the Witch Head Nebula.

The Jodrell Plank Observatory is slowly recovering from the electrical outage caused by storm damage in the latter part of 2023. The LVST (the Lowestoft Very Small software defined radio telescope is still out of action awaiting reprogramming by Jolene McSquint Fleming, the Observatory instrumentation engineer. Sadly and just like the NASA Pioneer space craft, the the software used to originally programme the LVST is now antique and few but the very old are fluent in the language used. Jolene has messaged our sponsor George Roberts who is sufficiently ancient to be of some limited assistance". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.