Proxima Centauri

[SkyViking]

Hi All, I haven't been imaging in a while but this month I managed to shoot Proxima Centauri, a target I've always wanted to capture but never got around to.

Image is here: http://www.pbase.com/image/124887272

The image is a composite with luminance taken without IR block filter on 13/05/2010 and RGB data taken on 19/05/2010 with IR block filter to ensure correct colours of the stars.
Taken with 10" Newtonian and ToUCam Pro SC1, no guiding.

Proxima has a relatively large proper motion and I found it to be quite a bit off from it's given position in Starry Night Pro. It is moving 3.85 arcseconds per year across the sky, so images taken with a year in between would clearly show it moving.

Hope you enjoy!

Regards Rolf

[Terry B]

Nice image.
I made a little animation of P Cent awhile ago showing it's propper motion.
See
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=46334

[renormalised]

Nice shot of the wee little fella!!:)

Now for Alpha Cen AB??

[RB]

Nice shot Rolf !

:thumbsup:

[Vanda]

Interesting stuff. Seeing how dim it is makes me wonder why our sun is classified as a G type "dwarf." I mean our sun is bigger than circa 85% of the rest of the stars in our galaxy. Dwarf compared to what?
And another thing about proxima - M type stars are metal poor arn't they - unlikely to harbour life? They were born in the galaxy prior to all the complex elements being formed in supernova.

[renormalised]

It's classified as a G type "dwarf" because historically that's what they called all stars burning hydrogen at their cores...dwarfs. They are smaller than the giant and supergiant stars. Actually, the Sun is in the top 4% of all stars, so far as size and luminosity is concerned.

Not all M class stars are metal poor. Many are, but there are many that are not. The metallicity of a star depends on quite a few factors, age being just one of them. One of the big factors is the metallicity of the nebulae they form in. Some are more metal rich than others. Also depends on where in the galaxy they form. Those closer to the nucleus of the galaxy will, in general, have higher metallicities than those that form out where we are or further out. Stars forming out on the rim of the galaxy, even now, can be quite metal poor, because the gases and such out there haven't evolved as much as closer in...i.e. there hasn't been as many supernovae or planetary nebs form out there to spread metal rich gas around.

Actually, Proxima is more metal rich than the Sun...something like 1.6-1.8 times solar Fe/H, yet it's older than the Sun.

And just because a star is metal poor doesn't mean it can't or may not harbour life. There are so many factors which go into the existence of life that we can't rule anything out, not until we've studied the stars and their planetary environments enough to be definitive either way.

[strongmanmike]

Rolf I have seen many spectacular deep sky objects, lots of clear sharp renditions of our solar system planets, our own star and our moon but ya know what?..this image does it for me, not because it is visually spectacular, although your processing is lovely, but rather because it simply and beautifully conveys a real sense of just what it is - and that is, another star, the next nearest star even. It even looks like a sphere and appears to just hang there in space. It's just great to stare at that small red pea and remember that there are no other stars between our star and this one yet it is some 40 million million km away......

Thanks for taking this, it's an excellent astronomical image.

Mike

[beren]

:thumbsup: fine image Rolf, I can't remember ever seeing an image of Proxima posted on IIS before .

[Steffen]

It might just mean the folks there never make it out of the stone age :lol:

SCNR :doh:

Cheers
Steffen.

[SkyViking]

Thank you guys for all your nice and informative comments! :)



Thats awesome Terry! Very interesting project. I'm going to take another inage in 2011 and see how much it has moved.



Thanks Carl, here is a close up of Alpha A/B with Solar System comparison: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/123574641

And one of Alpha A/B with long exposure here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/123574603
Note the double spikes from the two components. This is one of my older images though, so the processing could be better...



Thank you very much Mike. Those were my thoughts exactly about this image. It's not a 'visual feast' in itself, but it is certainly thought provoking.
Glad you all enjoyed it :)

[renormalised]

Yeah, well...no metal, you only have stone to play around with. But then again, maybe they've reached the technological level of The Flintstones:):P

[rogerg]

I like this too :thumbsup: I'm a big fan of doing unique astro photo's which don't necessarily contain the whole rainbow but rather have something really interesting about them :thumbsup:

[Vanda]

Thanks for the data Carl. "Dwarf" is misleading - to me its a term which implies small size and, as you point out 95% of stars are smaller than the sun.

[astroron]

Yes but the other 5% are giants compared to the other 95%,and even though they only make up 5% that still means a lot of stars.
See the comparison charts that have been on this site over the last year to see the difference.

[Lester]

Very nice image Rolf. I have not heard of Ross 248, and always thought that Alpha Centaurus was the second closest star, so found the read very interesting.

Thanks.

[SkyViking]

Thank you Lester, glad you liked it :)

[astroron]

Hi Lester Alpha Cent is still the second closest star , and will remain so for a long time yet.:)
Google Ross 248, and you will find lots of info on said star:thumbsup:
Here is what Wiki has to say :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_248
There is lots more where that came from:thumbsup:

[astroron]

Hi Rolf is your image inverted as to an eye piece view, and which is North:question:
Cool image by the way:thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Hi Ron, I believe North is up in my image and that's the opposite of my eyepiece view.