Outcast shockwave

In the deep blue summer midnight sky, we were panning around the Veil Nebula using the 20-inch, which is a superb telescope for this sort of visual application. Using my wide field 20 mm eyepiece and a Lumicon UHC (Ultra High Contrast) nebular filter, the strands of nebulosity from this supernova remnant were standing out from the twilight background. After looking at the weird ethereal strands around 52 Cygni, we moved across to NGC 6992 and 6995 on the opposite side and followed this arc as far as possible. I came across what I thought was a faint blob well separated from the rest and was curious to confirm whether this was real or just my imagination. So I stuck the Canon onto the scope. I keep the focuser locked in position for the Camera and slide the eyepiece in and out for visual focus, so this was very quick. I got a few 30” pics and stacked to reveal this lonely, outcast piece of supernova remnant.

M1

This is clearly not a photograph of the motorway that runs between London and Leeds. It is of the remnant from the supernova seen by the Chinese in 1054 as a star so bright it could easily be seen broad daylight. I want to see another. The very old star Betelgeuse in Orion is due to go supernova sometime in the next few tens of thousands of years and hopefully it will do it soon, during wintertime. That would be a truly awesome sight. A pinpoint of light much brighter than the full moon, turning the sky blue and casting sharp shadows when it rises at night. There is a slight risk of effects from the radiation, but we're just at a safe distance (no one knows exactly what this is, but it's about 600 light years away). Anyway this picture of M1 took 30 seconds on the 20" scope. This object is otherwise known as the Crab Nebula and it lives in Taurus, very close to the star ζ (zeta) Tauri.