in a galaxy far far away...

[nytecam]

These are remainder of pics taken Nov 1 - rained ever since!

Pic1 is blue quasar at the core of a very distant galaxy some 3,700,000,000 light years [3.7BLY] away in Cetus the Whale [SE at dusk]! Quasars are currently hot news for pro-astronomers - their constant brightness [with a few tweaks] can be used to measure the depth of the cosmos.

Pic 2 is multiple star Beta Capriconi [Goat] in south at dusk containing at least 6 star orbiting each other in pairs - star A, B and C can be seen in binos. My pic shows another colourful but faint pair marked D that may be connected to Beta Cap at a modest 330LY away. Stars A and B take nearly a million years to orbit each other!

Pic 3 is a pretty bubble of glowing gas called a *planetary nebula* near Beta Cap in the sky but much further away. It's the remnant of a dying giant red star. Hope these are of interest.

[htcdude]

3.7BLY, that's inconceivably far!

Thanks for the post again nytecam, always interesting

Nige

[Tringa]

Interesting? Yes, as always.

Thanks for the info on Beta Capricorni, I'll have a look when I get the chance.

Dave

[Farplace]

Thats amazing! thanks Nytecam!

[nytecam]

The end of summertime means, in effect, another hour for stuff to rise in the east at a reasonable hour - hence my montage of the Great Orion Nebula M42 taken in brief 1-20s exposures - the red colour due to hydrogen gas glowing via UV light from the Trapesium of four hot stars at its centre. As the eye is insensitive to red light at low these levels it appears a greenish hue to most from another hydrogen emission etc

[nursiebernard]

Great photos Nytecam

[nytecam]

Thanks everyone for your interest

M82 is perhaps my favourite galaxy in the sky eg the Starburst Galaxy near the Pointer in the Plough high in NE before midnight. The galaxy, also known as 'Cigar Galaxy' from its shape, is the scene of violent star formation shrouded by fiery gas clouds

[nytecam]

Half a degree below M82 [above post] is spiral galaxy M81 taken the same night in 5m exposure - it too is near the Plough 'Pointers'. M81 is much like our own Milky Way galaxy [that we live in] and has a quite different form from M82 - the Starburst Galaxy.

Both galaxies are ~12,000,000 light years [12MLY] distance eg their light you see tonight in binos is 12 million years old and these two galaxies are our immediate neighbours - space is BIG!

[artdemole]

More great shots.Just looked out of window at 16 45hrs and in a line to S.S.WEST could be seen Jupiter--The New Moon at 18% full -then down to a very visible Venus...

[nytecam]

Here's last night's pic of the Crab Nebula M1 in Taurus in 5x1min stack under bright moonlight. I've recorded the 'Crab' many times but this time I applied a sharpening routine during processing to bring out the red hydrogen 'tendrils' which show clearly.

M1 looks like a real heart to me rather than a crab It is a supernova remnant [SNR] eg exploding star seen is daylight by the Chinese for some weeks a thousand years ago [when Europe was in the 'Dark Ages'] and expanded continually to its present size. The remnant of the former giant star is now a super dense 30km diam 'pulsar' [just below centre in SNR pic] spinning at a phenomenal rate of 30 times per second More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula