You guys have told me just how much you love when I post my astrophotography shots and since I finally managed to get back out in my observatory the other night for the first time in months, I thought I would share my latest results with you guys.  My evening resulted in two rather decent images so I thought I would share this shot of the Crab Nebula with you!  Of course I will make another post for the other image but for now I have this shot of the Crab Nebula to share!

For those who are unfamiliar with the Crab Nebula, it is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus.  Back in 1054 AD, Chinese astronomers spotted a star so bright that it was visible even during the daytime.  That star had gone supernova and the Crab Nebula is the remnant of the explosion along with a neutron star (which you can’t make out) in the center.  It is approximately 6,500 light-years from Earth and is still expanding at a rate of 1,500KM/s.  The apparent magnitude of the Crab Nebula is 8.4 which is not visible with the naked eye but visible with a telescope or pair of binoculars on a good clear night.

As for the image itself, it is the combination of 39 x 180sec exposures for a total exposure time of 117 minutes.  If you are interested in the list of equipment I use to take a shot like this, I highly recommend checking out my post (which I update as things change) which lists all of my astrophotography equipment.  I think most everything on the list was involved in taking the image with the exception of the focal reducer.

If you know any space lovers, share this post with them as I’m sure they will enjoy seeing it!  Also, join our awesome community of geeks over on FB by liking Global Geek News on Facebook!

Stay tuned and I will get the second picture (Orion Nebula) posted soon!