Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Hello everyone! Something a little different here. Being the eccentric that I am; I'm taking an extra GCSE; Astronomy. As one piece of coursework I have to take pictures of "Messier Objects". Messier Objects are literally features in the night sky that Mr Messier couldn't classify when he saw them. They are a mix of stars, galaxies and nebulas; some of which look beautiful. I've decided to post some of my photographs here. These were taken using a C4 Galaxy Telescope on Caldera Volcano in Spain. The Observatory is situated at an altitude of 8,874ft above mean sea level. The photographs I have posted here have taken me months to obtain. I have taken dozens of photographs; many of which are often blurred/distorted due to cloud and condensation. Please enjoy! 1.) The Crab Nebula; 6,500 Light Years away: 2.) The PinWheel Galaxy; 20,900,000 Light Years away (look closely; observe the spiral arms): 3.) The Ring Nebula; 2,300 Light Years away: 4.) The Andromeda Glaxy; 2,540,000 Light Years away (there are 1 Trillion Stars in this photograph): 5.) The Great Orion Nebula; 1,344 Light Years Away; Please note; these images are virtually unedited - What you see is what they are. Some interesting facts about these Photographs: - The Ring Nebula (colourful disc on photograph "3") is actually an exploded white dwarf star. The very centre of it is where the star exploded; ejecting trillions of tonnes of ionized gas (which is the colour you can see surrounding it). - The bright white star visible in the Orion Nebula (photo "5"); located near the bottom and 1/4 of the way in left; is nine times the size of our entire solar system - The Crab Nebula (Photo "1") was the first ever recorded Messier Object - The Andromeda Galaxy (Photo "4") is one of the only known galaxies to be experiencing a phenomenon know as Blueshift. This means that the galaxy is moving towards us; whilst almost 95%+ of everything we can see is experiencing Redshift (ie moving away from us). In fact, the Andromeda Galaxy is expected to collide with our solar system in about 4.5 Billion Years I hope you have found this post interesting! Cheers, Jack PS: I have set up a poll so you can all vote for your favourite image! Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 What a change - screenshots of real stars! Incredible images, Jack - so clear, too - very impressive, Thanks for sharing. Personally, I think that straighforward photo's like yours are far more thought provoking than some of the 'spectacular' Hubble telescope shots - you never quite know the degree of 'doctoring' to get the resulting effect. As you say "What you you see is what they are" - or were, eh? Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Superb shots Jack - really interesting! Link to post Share on other sites
Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Thank you Dai & Kieran! Indeed; these are the "real" thing. There hasn't been any fancy editing as such. My personal favourite at the moment is the Ring Nebula; it just looks so colourful. Cheers, Jack Link to post Share on other sites
aeromax 10 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Very impressive pictures. great compilation, Jack ! Link to post Share on other sites
Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Cheers Max Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,010 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Nice pictures Jack. I'm glad we got to see them after all. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,487 Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Great photos. Andromeda for me Jack, just to think how many stars we are looking at! Link to post Share on other sites
Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Thanks Brian & Joe! It's great to see that someone likes Andromeda after all! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Great photos Jack.. My favorite is the Orion Nebula, but I was also considering the PinWheel Galaxy. I find it somewhat mindboggeling that we can actually photograph something that's so far far away as that one... Link to post Share on other sites
Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Cheers Micke! I'm happy that someone almost opted for the Pinwheel; it's one of my favourites. I have re-uploaded the photographs in the first post; they have now been processed by our resident photo expert Brian! The edits are simply to make the colours stand out more; these edits are nowhere near the level of adjustment you get with the Hubble Photos. Photo 1 still remains completely unedited. Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures, I'm a keen astronomer too and recently parted with my 6" reflector to spur me on to get a decent go to scope ... I'm missing the scope just now as the southern sky's have been pretty interesting with Mars and the Moon popping up later. I voted for Messier 31 my avatar picture and forum name What a sight it would be to see M31 merge with our Milky Way galaxy in the future, pity nobody will be round to see it unless we can migrate away from our Solar System at least. Link to post Share on other sites
Aircraft Aviation 2 Posted February 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures, I'm a keen astronomer too and recently parted with my 6" reflector to spur me on to get a decent go to scope ... I'm missing the scope just now as the southern sky's have been pretty interesting with Mars and the Moon popping up later. I voted for Messier 31 my avatar picture and forum name What a sight it would be to see M31 merge with our Milky Way galaxy in the future, pity nobody will be round to see it unless we can migrate away from our Solar System at least. Colin, I apologise so much for missing your post... It just got slowly pushed down! I was so happy when I sussed out what your name meant and thought perhaps we have another astronomer on here. I'm glad you enjoyed these photographs' the Crab Nebula (M1) photo was voted the best photograph on the website, and I'm so proud to have taken it. I had thought you would have voted for M31... ! I actually have 2 more photographs that I have recently received. Brian has offered to process them for me and I will do a little colour-level (RGB) work myself... If there's enough interest I will post here! Cheers Colin, keep scopin'. Jack Link to post Share on other sites
M31 0 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I actually have 2 more photographs that I have recently received. Brian has offered to process them for me and I will do a little colour-level (RGB) work myself... If there's enough interest I will post here! Cheers Colin, keep scopin'. Jack Please post them Jack, would love to see them. Caught a glimpse of the ISS passing over last night, too cloudy tonight, but there is one last opportunity in this phase for my parts to see it tomorrow evening again ... assuming the clouds are clear of course. I've seen the ISS pass over many times and always enjoy it ... its sad to think that this great human achievement only has a finite life span, like many of our space endeavours too. Link to post Share on other sites
simi_av8r 0 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 some excellent photos there Jack, i'm surprised you dont have any of the Veil Nebula and M51, they're my favourites as you might tell, like Colin (a.k.a M31) i love my astronomy too. I've only recently upgraded my scope to a 5" Newt, but i'm crossing off the 110 Messier objects like there was no tomorrow, so far i have M1, M31, M32, M42, M45, M51, M81 and M110 - if only these blasted clouds would bu**er off so I can do some more! ...now there's something you don't here that often in FS, usually its "look at them pretty clouds" now i find myself doing a cloud banishing dance every evening to ill effect! edit: i voted for M42 or, as you named it, the 'Great Orion Nebula" Link to post Share on other sites
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