Great Orion Molecular Cloud - Messier 42

Messier 42-The Great Orion Molecular Cloud - Combination of two images taken with the PIRATE and COAST Robotic Telescopes using BVR filters- Credit: telescope.org - Open University. and Pip Stakkert.

" The above image is the result of combining two images taken with the robotic telescopes on Mount Teide, Tenerife, back in January 2018. Pip Stakkert has taken great care to not bleach out the young hot Trapezium stars at the heart of the nebula. Messier 42 is a stellar nursery and  one of the great northern hemisphere show pieces of the night sky." - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

                               

Messier 41 an open star cluster in the constellation Canis Major - Image taken with the PIRATE Robotic Telescope back in March 2018. Credit: telescope.org - Open University and Pip Stakkert.

"Not far from the constellation Orion lies the constellation Canis Major and the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere sky Alpha Canis Major also known as Sirius. 

Messier 41 lies approximately 4 degrees south of Sirius. The open cluster contains some 100 stars and has a diameter of  25 to 26 light years. The cluster has a number of red giant and white dwarf stars and has an estimated age of 190 million years.  M41 or NGC2287 is 2300 light years distant and is moving away from us at 23.3 km/sec." - Archie Mendes - visiting theoretical astronomer at the Jodrell Plank Observatory - Reydon University - 'School of Computer Modelling and Difficult Sums' 

" The staff of the Jodrell Plank Observatory wish to acknowledge the work and passing of the Opportunity Mars Rover. The little rover exceeded its life expectancy and worked in the inhospitable conditions of the martian surface from January 2004 until June 10 2018. Well done Opportunity, NASA and all involved" - Community outreach coordinator – Karl Seguine

Credit: Wikipedia

Red 'Hyper giants and Carbon Stars'

Herschel's Garnet Star Mu Cephei Spectral type M21a - Credit: The COAST Robotic Telescope - BVR filters - The Open University - telescope. org. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert

 Mu Cephei  is also known as Herschel's Garnet Star and is a red supergiant or hypergiant star in the constellation Cepheus. It appears garnet red and is located at the edge of the IC 1396 nebula. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as the M2 Ia standard by which other stars are classified.

Mu Cephei is visually nearly 100,000 times brighter than the Sun, with an absolute visual magnitude of −7.6. It is also one of the largest known stars with an estimated radius over 1,000 times that of the sun, and were it placed in the Sun's position its stellar radius would reach to between the orbit of Jupiter and Saturn.- Credit Wikipedia

Hind's Crimson Star - R Leporis Spectral Type C7,6e. The COAST Robotic Telescope - BVR filters - The Open University - telescope. org. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert

R Leporis (R Lep), sometimes called Hind's Crimson Star, is a well-known variable star in the constellation Lepus, near its border with Eridanus. It is designated "R"

It is a carbon star which appears distinctly red. It is named after famous British astronomer J. R. Hind, who observed it in 1845. Its apparent magnitude varies from +5.5 to +11.7 with a period of 418–441 days; recent measurements give a period of 427.07 days. There may be a secondary period of 40 years.  It has been estimated to be around 1,350 light-years distant, shining with a luminosity approximately 6,689 times that of the Sun and with a surface temperature of 2,980 K.[8]

R Leporis has often been reported as an intense smoky red colour, although this is not pronounced when the star is near its maximum brightness. It is reddest when it is dimmest, which occurs every 14.5 months. The red coloration may be caused by carbon in the star's outer atmosphere filtering out the blue part of its visible light spectrum.- Credit Wikipedia

" Mixed in with ordinary GK and M stars (covering a temperature range from 4600 to 3100 degrees K) are Carbon or C stars. They are cool giant stars that are over abundant in carbon relative to oxygen. Under the old Harvard stellar classification these were divided into the hotter 'R' stars with spectral bands of (C2) and bands of cyanogen (CN) and cooler 'N' stars exhibiting (C2), (CN) and (CH) with very little (TiO) evident.

Both the 'Garnet Star' and the 'Crimson Star' are variable stars.  Indeed, most low temperature stars exhibit some form of variability in their luminosity and energy output. The 'Garnet Star' is a 'Cepheid' variable, one of an important group of variable stars used in estimating distances to remote star systems. The relationship between the period of pulsation for variable stars and their luminosity was discovered by the modest and admirable Miss Henrietta Swan Leavitt and was used by Edwin Hubble to first establish the distance to The Andromeda Galaxy M31 . This was the first proof that the Universe went on outside the confines of the Milky Way.

In 1912 Miss Leavitt, working at Harvard, found that the brighter the median apparent magnitude (and so luminosity since the stars are at the same distance) the longer the period of the Cepheid variable star.  Harlow Shapley realised the importance of the period- luminosity relationship and attempted to find the 'zero-point' in order that a knowledge of the period of a Cepheid would immediately determine its luminosity. This calibration was difficult to perform because of the relative scarcity of Cepheids within range of distance determinations to allow trigonometric parallax observations. Instead, Shapley depended upon the relatively inaccurate method of statistical parallax. His zero point was then used to find the distances to many other galaxies. As time has passed more accurate  data has become available which has enabled more reliable distances to some 20 or more stars which serve as calibrators for the period-luminosity relationship in the Milky Way"

- Archie Mendes - visiting theoretical astronomer at the Jodrell Plank Observatory - Reydon University - 'School of Computer Modelling and Difficult Sums' - author of "Quantity Surveying and Standard Methods of Measurement in Curved Space Time" or "When the Socks come off!" – Greek National

NGC 2146 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis

NGC 2146 Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis. Credit: COAST Robotic Telescope - Mount Teide Tenerife Open University-telescope.org 

"It has a diameter of 80,000 light years  The galaxy's most conspicuous feature is the dusty lanes of a spiral arm lying across the core of the galaxy as seen from Earth, the arm having been bent 45 degrees by a close encounter with a smaller galaxy possibly NGC 2146a about 0.8 billion years ago. This close encounter is credited with the relatively high rates of star formation that qualify NGC 2146 as a starburst galaxy", Credit : Wikipedia

 Type 11 Supernova SN2018zd in NGC 2146 Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis. Credit: COAST Robotic Telescope - Mount Teide Tenerife Open University-telescope.org 

Inverted greyscale enlargement showing the Supernova - originally discovered on the 7th March 2018 by Koichi  Itagaki

" Just before Christmas, Pip Stakkert requested that the COAST Robotic Telescope on Mount Teide should take a snap shot of this interesting 'starburst' galaxy and the above image was captured at 3:30 am. on the 26th December 2018. The capture used BVR filters and a single exposure of 3 minutes. 

A Type 11 supernova occurs when a massive star, one with a mass between 8 and fifty times the mass of our sun, undergoes a rapid collapse as gravity overcomes the outward thermal pressure created by the nuclear fusion process at its core and the degeneracy pressure of electrons. The net result of the collapse is a massive explosion that may be seen across the vast distances which separate galaxies.

NGC 2146 is estimated to be a staggering 70 million light years distant from our home galaxy.

This distance equates approximately to to 76,622,511,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometres". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Hot Plastic at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

3d Printer completed on time and within budget - Credit: Jolene McSquint-Fleming - Observatory Instrumentation Engineer and Associate Astronomer 

" Does anyone know how to turn it on"?  -  Anita Roberts - Observatory Friend and Sponsor

'Albedo' and the surface geology of the 'Moon's Near-side'

The nearside of the Moon using false colour to show the differences in albedo (reflection of sunlight) .
Image compiled from AVI video files - 66mm Altair Astro Refractor - QHY5-11 colour planetary camera - Credit: Archie Mendes

" The changes in albedo, quite literally reflect the variations in surface geology of the Moon. The  different  mineral content of the highlands (shades of green) and the Maria or Seas (shades of blue and red) is clearly displayed in the above colour enhanced images.

The lunar maria  have a lower albedo and therefore appear darker to the eye than do the highlands. They are generally lower lying and as a result of their younger age are less heavily cratered. The lunar maria cover approximately one third of the nearside and are large basaltic-lava filled plains. The majority of maria lavas formed between 3 and 3.5 billion years ago. A large amount of the maria were formed by lavas erupting in or flowing into very large impact basins. It should be noted that the impact basins are 500 million years older than the lava which fills them. There is therefore, no real evidence that the volcanism was connected to impact events. Oceanus Procellarum, the largest  Mare, does not correspond with any known impact basin.

The maria are predominantly basalt whilst the highlands are anorthosite composed of calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar. Plagioclase feldspar is mainly found in the lunar crust whilst pyroxene and olivine are primarily found in the underlying mantle. . With respect to the highlands, the maria are comprised from basaltic lava with higher abundances of olivine and pyroxene and less plagioclase. With respect to terrestrial lavas, the lunar lavas have lower viscosities and a lower iron content. Some mare lavas contain high levels of titanium (ilmenite)." - George Hammer - Geologist  

Credit: Wikipedia

Catching Crabs

MESSIER 1 the Crab Nebula - Credit Open University COAST Robotic Telescope - telescope.org and the Bradford Robotic Telescope. Combination of data from both telescopes taken several years apart and one using standard RGB filters and one using SHO filters - Credit Pip Stakkert Imaging Team Leader at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Crop from the above image: Credits:Open University COAST Robotic Telescope - telescope.org, the Bradford Robotic Telescope and  Pip Stakkert Imaging Team Leader at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"In 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers noted a bright star in the constellation Taurus the Bull, this was a supernova, a star that having fused its reserves of helium gas under went a cataclysmic gravitational collapse. The resulting mega-explosion created the supernova remnant the Crab Nebula - Messier 1 and a spinning Neutron Star known as a 'Pulsar'. The Crab Nebular is 6500 light Years distant and has an apparent diameter of 7 arc minutes as viewed from the earth. It is expanding at 930 miles per second. The pulsar spins at 30.2 times per second and has a diameter between 17 and 19 miles. The Crab Nebula is too small and dim to be seen with the naked eye but it is said to be visible with the aid of binoculars. I have tried to view it through 11x80mm binoculars from a number of dark locations but with no success.  I have seen it through a number of telescopes.  One of the most spectacular viewings I have enjoyed was through the eyepiece of  Olly Penrice's large reflector at Les Granges in the South of France". - Kurt Thrust -acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Image showing the location of the Pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula Credit: Bradford Robotic Telescope and Pip Stakkert.

Credit: Wikipedia

Total Lunar Eclipse 21st January 2019 And 'Wolf' Moon

Partial phase of the eclipse composite image. Still photograph taken with Canon 600D DSLR and Altair Astro Starwave 66mm. refracting telescope mounted on Star Adventurer equatorial mount.

 Composite of two images showing both the colour and illumination of the moon in eclipse and the nearby stars which could be seen because of the reduced reflected light from the moon. 
Very near time of maximum eclipse. Two images with different timed exposures blended together to show background stars as well as colour and illumination affects of the eclipse. Still photographs taken with Canon 600D DSLR and Altair Astro Starwave 66mm. refracting telescope mounted on Star Adventurer equatorial mount.

The air temperature was particularly low and as maximum totality approached cloud and high level atmospheric ice crystals created a halo around the eclipsed moon. Still photographs taken with Canon 600D DSLR and Altair Astro Starwave 66mm. refracting telescope mounted on Star Adventurer equatorial mount.

Maximum Totality.Still photographs taken with Canon 600D DSLR and Altair Astro Starwave 66mm. refracting telescope mounted on Star Adventurer equatorial mount. 

The 'Wolf' Moon rising over Lime Avenue Oulton Broad

The larger than life disc of the full 'Wolf' Moon. Mosaic of two stacked videos taken with a QHY5-11 colour planetary camera and my Altair Astro Starwave 66mm. refracting telescope mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount

 "The whole team were up all night to witness and photograph the grandeur of a total lunar eclipse, sadly, the Jodrell Plank Observatory does not pay its staff overtime rates. They do get free and unlimited hot 'Marmite' drinks after midnight.Take a night off team and credit to all. Special thanks to Pip Stakkert who has spent all day working on the image files after a very long night". Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory