The supernova remnant Messier 1 (Crab nebula, NGC 1951) in the constellation Taurus
on October 26 / 27, 2014. Messier 1 is 6500 light years from Earth. It is the result of a supernova explosion which was observed by Chinese
astronomers in 1054 (and, of course, by thousands of people in the northern hemisphere). The "guest star" was visible during daylight by the
naked eye for three weeks.
The gaseous remains of the star were independently discovered by John Bevis in 1731 and Charles Messier in 1758.
British astronomer William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, sketched Messier 1 in 1844, using a 36-inch telescope. The drawing of the nebula
resembled a crab, which led to todays designation "Crab nebula". At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar (see below), a neutron star
30 km across rotating 30 times per second (Sources: Wikipedia, Burnham's Celestial Handbook).
Twenty-four 3 minute exposures at ISO 800 with no dark frame subtraction were stacked with Deep Sky Stacker (resulting in a 1 h 12 min exposure)
and further processed in Photoshop.
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Equipment: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified camera, TeleVue Paracorr Type II coma corrector,
16" f/4.5 "Ninja" dobsonian telescope riding on a dual-axis Tom Osypowski equatorial platform,
Lacerta MGEN autoguider, Lacerta off axis system (field of view comparison:
image of the moon with the same equipment).
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