The Crab

[Paul Haese]

This is an image out of Swan Reach Imaging of M1 (the Crab Nebula) It must have been a very bright visible star during the day when it first exploded. I wonder what the people of the time thought of it all? They must have utterly freaked out at this new star being visible in the sky and assumed all sorts of weird omens.

It's a particularly tough target here at our southern latitude as it never gets higher than 33 degrees above the horizon.

The image contains Ha, OIII, SII LRGB. 26.25 hours of data was used in the image but a lot of data had to be rejected due to seeing conditions at lower altitudes.

Overall I am quite happy with image though.

Edit - Newer image supplied.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/M1AG12.html) for the larger image.

[strongmanmike]

That's very nice Paul, especially imaged from way down at 35deg S :thumbsup:

Those filaments are amazing, cool colour palette too.

Mike

[glend]

Wonderful work as always Paul. Your dedication of the hours required is inspiring.. :thumbsup:

[topheart]

Well done!
Cheers,
Tim

[Andy01]

Lovely colours, would be great see it larger too. :thumbsup:

[Tropo-Bob]

Just amazing!

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments.

I subsequently changed the image as I was not 100% happy with the palette or brightness.



Thanks Mike, The detail in each filter is significantly different looking and makes for interesting processing of this object. I think this palette now works a little better and more in line with the band passes.




Thanks Glen. I could have tried for more hours but was finding I was only getting a few hours a night now before the data was significantly blurred. I have considered doing a multi year on this to capture the expansion waves within the nebula. I saw one last year by a chap and thought it was a pretty interesting project.



Thanks Andy, I hope these colours are to your liking. The previous image was at near full resolution. This one is at full resolution. The image scale is 0.94" per pixel. A longer focal length would provide better resolution but that will not be happening for a while now.

[Addos]

nice job, especially with it so low on the horizon!