Stuff in the Sky

Seems that when it gets a little colder and the skies are clear, the intrepid staff at the Canuck Observatory work tirelessly, ‘round-the-clock, scanning and documenting stuff in the sky. Through exhaustive research on the interwebs, the crack scientists have discovered there are a lot of critters up there, including, oddly enough, many sea critters (or bits thereof).

The Lobster Claw Nebula (SH 2-157) is a bright emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 43 thousand light years distant from our solar system. It has a physical diameter of approximately 759 light years. The Lobster Claw is associated with other interesting stuff, including the star cluster NGC7510, which is actually described as in the neighboring constellation Cepheus, just above the upper pincer, and in the lower left corner is the more famous Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635; #114 ).

The Lobster Claw nebula (SH 2-157): 35 x 300 second light exposures; 30 darks exposures, OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter, essentially no cropping:

Lobster claw-PS-vibrance-destar copy.jpg

The Jellyfish nebula (IC 443) is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini with a visual magnitude of 12+ and located approximately 5000 light years from earth. The Jellyfish is thought to be the remains of a supernova that occurred 3,000 to 30,000 years ago (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/what-spawned-the-jellyfish-nebula.html); that’s quite a range, but our scientists will spare no effort to narrow this down (provided the gubment grants us thousands of dollars so we can purchase a new larger aperture, longer focal length, triplet refractor - did you say "Honey, you know this year's tax return"?).

The Jellyfish nebula (IC 443): 35 x 300 second light exposures; 30 darks exposures, OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter, essentially no cropping:

Jellyfish-PS-vibrance-destar copy.jpg

Information from SkySafari 6 Pro and https://www.nasa.gov/

Cheers (with more to come)
 
Continuing with the sea critters in the sky, the Crab nebula, a relatively inconspicuous bit of stuff, has a storied history. The Crab is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. The supernova that created the Crab was first noted by Chinese astronomers on 04 July 1054 AD, who recorded it as a “guest star” in the sky. They estimated it had a visual magnitude of -6, that’s about 4 times brighter than Venus. The guest star was visible during daylight hours for some 23 days and lasted in the night sky for 623 days (well, nights). The Anasazi Indians depicted the event in petroglyphs in Navaho Canyon and White Mesa Arizona and Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

The nebulous remnant of the massive explosion was discovered by John Bevis in 1731. Charles Messier “rediscovered” it in 1758 while looking for Halley’s comet. He initially thought he had observed the comet, but after finding it didn’t move, it inspired him to create his catalog of “comet-like” structures that could be mistaken for comets. The nebula was his first entry, "M1". Messier acknowledged Bevis’ prior discovery when he learned of it in 1771.
At the center of the nebula is the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star rotating at 30.2 times per second (you can set your watch by it :) ).

The Crab Nebula. (M 1): 75 x 240 second light exposures; 30 darks exposures, OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter, about 50% cropped (need to get that bigger scope):

Crab Nebula-PS-vibrance-destar copy.jpg

Information from SkySafari 6 Pro and https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-1-the-crab-nebula

Cheers
 
The Monkey Head nebula (NGC 2174) is a 7TH magnitude bright emission nebula in the constellation Orion. Fittingly perhaps, the Monkey Head is located near the head of Orion, above the bright red star Betelgeuse, which has recently been undergoing an identity crisis (but that's a topic for another post). The Monkey Head is an HII-rich cloud of ionized gas in which new stars are being formed. Up near the eye of the Monkey Head is a particularly rich area of intense star formation. For close up of pillars within the eye region, check out https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/...gc-2174-pillars-in-the-monkey-head-nebula.pdf

The Monkey Head nebula (NGC2174): 25 x 300 second light exposures; 25 dark exposures, OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter, about 50% cropped:

Monkey Head-PS2 copy.jpg

Information from monkey-head-nebula

Cheers
 
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Well, the clouds rolled in, with rain and thunderstorms (73 F outside); as a result, the image acquisition team is taking some much deserved nights off and the data crunchers have taken over the observatory to crunch the massive amounts of data recently collected. After crunching the data, the team announces the we have not discovered anything new. It turns out all that stuff in the sky has been there for quite a while and has previously been discovered, catalogued, and described, as we have noted throughout our posts. But, like good scientists, we do take satisfaction in verifying those who went before us, that stuff is indeed up there. With that, other discoveries the Canuck Observatory have not made in 2022:

The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) is a bright emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. Although it has a visual magnitude of 7.2, its light is spread out over approximately 12 arc minutes (about 15 light years) and it sits in a relatively "dusty"part of the sky, which perhaps explains why it was not discovered until 1899 by Thomas Epsin. The dark nebula IC 5146, surrounds the cocoon and projects a westward (upwards in the image below) trail, as if the Cocoon eaten cut a path through the stars.

The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5156): 35 x 300 second light exposures; 25 x 300 dark exposures; OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter:

Cocoon nebula-PS-vibrance copy.jpg

The Hidden Galaxy (IC 342) is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis first discovered by WF Denning in 1895. The galaxy owes its popular name, the Hidden Galaxy, due to its visual difficulty to detect; sitting only 10.5 degrees from the galactic equator, it is obscured by the interstellar matter of the Milky Way. In the below image, I did a fair amount of "star removal" in order to bring out the galaxy.

The Hidden Galaxy (IC 342): 19 x 240 second light exposures (ran into some issues with high thin clouds, limiting the useful number of exposures); 25 x 240 dark exposures; multispectrum broadband filter:

Hidden Galaxy-PS-Cropped-Destar copy.jpg

The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus discovered by William Herschel in 1794. The Iris i lit up by an open star cluster, spans about 6 light years across, and is approximately 1300 light years distant.

The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023): 40 x 300 second light exposures; 30 x 300 second dark exposures; OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter:

Iris Nebula2-PS copy.jpg


Cheers to all, and have a wonderful New Year!!
 
Perhaps @Canuck from Kansas and the acquisition team at the Canuck Observatory for Integrated Fisherpeople can lock onto the upcoming C-2023 E3 (ZTF) long period comet toward the latter part of January when then the moon is darkest in the sky and update us on a daily basis. Hopefully this traveler from the Oort will not commit a self induced disintegration similar to C-2021 03. Eagerly awaiting the effort and results. Thanks again for re-establishing my relationship with the early morning, 4 AM, first cup of coffee, universe.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/30/23532397/new-comet-visible-naked-eye-january-february-2023

Respectfully,
Vagabond
 
VAGABOND said:
Perhaps @Canuck from Kansas and the acquisition team at the Canuck Observatory for Integrated Fisherpeople can lock onto the upcoming C-2023 E3 (ZTF) long period comet toward the latter part of January when then the moon is darkest in the sky and update us on a daily basis. Hopefully this traveler from the Oort will not commit a self induced disintegration similar to C-2021 03. Eagerly awaiting the effort and results. Thanks again for re-establishing my relationship with the early morning, 4 AM, first cup of coffee, universe.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/30/23532397/new-comet-visible-naked-eye-january-february-2023

Respectfully,
Vagabond
Click to expand...

@VAGABOND, thank you for your suggestion. The PR staff at the Observatory have been contemplating a daily progress report, but they are still working on logistics and gauging public interest. I can assure you the Image Acquisition team has C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on their radar, so to speak. The comet is actually already visible in the early morning ENE sky with a good pair of 10 x 50 binoculars and/or a 135 mm or greater lens; however, it is fairly low on the horizon (about 33 degrees), so not optimal viewing.

We are certainly monitoring the comet's progress as it approaches perihelion (closest pass to the sun) on 12 January and then its perigree (closest pass to Earth) between 01 and 02 February. Also, with any luck, 10 and 11 February could provide wonderful viewing opportunities as it sweeps by Mars. The staff at the Observatory are collectively holding their breath and hoping for clear skies.

11 February 2023 at 8:15 PM (blue box indicates the field of view with the Zenithstar 81 NTLT):

Screen Shot 2023-01-03 at 8.22.27 AM.png

Cheers
 
First glimpse of Comet C/2022 E3.

The Image Acquisition team is not at all happy with the posting of this image, but the Public Relations department at the Canuck Observatory seems to have won the day. There is a lot wrong with this first glimpse; the image was taken without tracking, so could only get 3 second exposures, which you can see with the star trailing is still too long; focus is likely not perfect, as the dawn was approaching really did not have the time to muck about with a Bahtinov mask - it was shoot and be damned (the current team likely will not be around when and if C/2022 E3 makes a return visit in 50k years) - still hoping for some clear skies later in the month and early February, but have to take what you can get, just in case.

Some interesting factoids from the Data Crunchers (who crunched the interwebs for the info https://theskylive.com/c2022e3-info), the comet is currently 132,582,088 kilometers from Earth with a current observed magnitude of 7.4 (Comet Observation Database [COBS]) and the light takes approximately 7 minutes to get here.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) - bluish spot at 2 o'clock: 1 x 3.2 second exposure; Sony Alpha 77II; 400 mm @ f5.6 (if you use your imagination, you can see a very faint tail):

C:2022 E3-PS-select bright copy.jpg

Cheers
 
Though it is not yet “galaxy season” (that doesn’t start until March), the Galaxy Hunters at the Observatory are chomping at the bit. With a couple of hours of clear skies the other evening and the co-operation from the Comet Hunting Group, who gave up valuable telescope time since C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is only visible in the early morning, the Galaxy Hunting Group swung into high gear and tracked down M 74.

M 74 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces, discovered by Pierre Mechain in September 1780 and confirmed by Charles Messier a month later. M 74 was among the 14 spiral nebula listed by Lord Rosse in 1850. It’s a difficult galaxy to observe given its low surface brightness, the lowest of any Messier object (but our crack team did it); however, it is considered an archetypal example of a “Grand Design” spiral galaxy due to its face-on orientation and large angular size.

M 74: 20 x 240 second light exposures; 20 x 240 second dark exposures; multispectrum broadband filter:

M 74-PS copy.jpg

Cropped about 100%:

M 74-PS copy-cropped.jpg

Cheers
 
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is still in the constellation Bootes. It is rising higher in the sky and is brightening with a latest observed magnitude of 6.95 (still not yet visible to the naked eye). Had the Zentithstar 81 out this morning, not too bad, but not getting the long tail seen in some shots, might need longer exposures. Moon was still fairly bright at 46% illumination. As the moon wains, viewing should improve. Tomorrow morning is forecasted to be clear and the moon will be down to 35%, so will try again. In the coming 2 weeks, the comet will approach Polaris and become circumpolar, allowing for viewing in the evening, prior to moonrise.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 6 x 120 second exposures taken at about 5:30 AM this morning.

C:2022-E3-2min-PS copy.jpg

This was posted this morning, the best I have seen, by quite a bit, so far

Astrophotography by Peter_Shah

Build your astrophotography profile for free
telescopius.com telescopius.com

Reason for edit: To add link.

Cheers and happy comet hunting.
 
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We have had a “mishap” at the Canuck Observatory. Seems all the original FITS images of the Flame nebula (NGC 2024)/IC434 nebula/Horsehead nebula (Barnard 33) #28 have gone missing. No one at the Observatory seems to know what happened to them, no trace. Rumors are running wild, sold to the Chinese maybe; taken hostage to be held for ransom, spirited away to Mar-a-Lago or Biden’s garage? It’s crazy, everyone is afraid. How will this affect our funding? Heads will roll. In an effort to satisfy upper management’s need for a scapegoat, it was decided to blame it on a young intern; it just seemed like the right thing to do. Anyways, with a clear sky and late-rising, waning moon, the Image Acquisition team got busy, up all night in an effort to replace the irreplaceable files. We may actually like this one better, and it may be a truer representation.

Flame nebula, IC 434 and the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33): 50 x 300 second light exposures; 50 x 300 second dark exposures; OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter:

Flame-Horsehead-PS2-Vibrance copy.jpg

Cheers
 
That image will suffice currently. I assume an official inquiry will be opened in the near future to determine which files are “Eyes Only” and which are relegated for use by interns. Discipline needs to be key going forward during the current Comet Capture Conundrum, especially if the weather gods decide to play mind games.
Great work as usual.
 
VAGABOND said:
That image will suffice currently. I assume an official inquiry will be opened in the near future to determine which files are “Eyes Only” and which are relegated for use by interns. Discipline needs to be key going forward during the current Comet Capture Conundrum, especially if the weather gods decide to play mind games.
Great work as usual.
Click to expand...
Press Release Regarding the Missing FITS Files from the Canuck Observatory:

To all who may be concerned,

A full investigation is currently underway; therefore, we cannot comment any further on this incident; however, please keep in mind, this is completely different from the much publicized investigations of found documents currently dominating much of the press. There is no criminality at the Observatory, beyond that we have no further comments at this time.

Please rest assured, we are completely transparent with the goings on at the Observatory and as such, we are happy to answer any questions and will be updating with additional no comments as developments warrant.

Kind regards,

Canuck from Kansas
Chief information Officer
Canuck Observatory
New Bern, NC
 
The comet hunters at the Canuck Observatory a proud to announce they have confirmed that the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has sprouted an anti-tail, that is, a tail that is seemingly pointing towards the Sun, rather than the usual away from the Sun (directed by the solar winds). C/2022 E3 (ZTF) actually has 3 tails, an ion tail, very faint and directed almost directly downwards (away from the Sun) in the below image (it actually underwent a "disconnection" last week), a dust tail, the faintly pink hazy area below the nucleus, and the anti-tail, pointing to 11 O'clock. The anti-tail is not actually streaming towards the Sun, it is an optical illusion resulting from our crossing the comets path.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) should continue to brighten over the next several days, perhaps becoming visible to the naked eye. It is now relatively easily visible with a good pair of binoculars. We are expecting a couple of cloudy rainy days but clearing by Friday night/Saturday morning, as the comet nears its closest approach to Earth in 01 February.

90 sec 10 stacked-cropped copy.jpg

Cheers
 
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