Really cool, Jim!

Karen

AP

 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Jim Fakatselis
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 1:51 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Subject: [ap-gto] Crab Nebula Supernova expansion

 

Hi group,

 

Just recently took an image of M1, the Crab Nebula, from my backyard observatory in Huntington, NY, on Long Island.

 

Image was taken with an AP 130mm f/6 refractor, Mach1GTO and the QHY 268C one shot color camera through an IDAS NBZ filter. Integration time was approx 5.3 hours on Jan 8-9, 2022. Images were 64 x 300 sec at a gain of 10.

 

Curiosity made me look for the spectacular HST image of the Crab taken around December 1999 - January 2000. 

 

A friend suggested I try to overlay my feeble attempt and the spectacular HST image. 

 

Image registration was a bit difficult at first since the HST image is so tightly cropped, not many stars are there for comparison. However, I found an animation made by HST group showing a zooming in view to where the Crab is in the sky with the HST image overlayed at different scales. I was able to grab one of the HST frames with additional stars to do image registration in Pixinsight. Had to add a few more stars from my image to avoid some blank sky areas in the frame capture. (Thank God Pixinsight has that Starnet functionality.)

 

Looking at the attached animation, you can definitely notice the supernova remnant expansion over 22 years from HST in 2000 until mine in 2022. Amazing !

 

Attached is the simple gif animation I assembled.

 

Jim Fakatselis

Peppermill Skies Observatory

Huntington, NY

 

--
Karen Christen
Astro-Physics