Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Dark Arts 4


I really must try and come up with a few more original names.
Right then, this weeks Astro Experiment is a photograph of the central region of the great nebula. If you want to see this yourself then the naked observer (it happens, what can I say…) will need to be standing facing south at around 5 in the morning with a decent pair of binoculars. Find Orion’s Belt and the fuzzy patch half way down his sword will reward you well if you look at it for a few minutes.
A dark southern sky will help. You might also prefer to wait until January when you can see the same thing as you come out of the pub, but at a far more reasonable hour.
The photograph I have taken of course relies on a few hundred quids worth of telescope and camera as well as a little experience setting the whole thing up.
So what is it? This is a region of far away (and long ago) where we can see the great Moo Moo making stars. A stellar nursery if you like. Gravity squashes huge clumps of Hydrogen together until they eventually ignite and stars are born. We see the clouds lit up from the inside by the magic of nuclear fire. Okay that’s a little simplistic as an explanation but if you are interested beyond this then Google knows far more than I (look up M42 Great Nebula).The picture has had the red element pushed up a bit to bring out more detail.
Now I know that there are plenty of perfectly good and far better focussed photos of this nebula all over the net but this is the one I took. And, I might add, froze myself to the bone doing it. Still, its tremendous fun even with your clothes on…..

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frozen to the bone eh? Maybe you should invest in some thermal undies x

buffalodick said...

Wow! You must have some pretty good gear to be able to take pictures of that!

Unknown said...

Beautiful picture!

Unknown said...

Have you downloaded Google earths' latest offering? Google sky is free with it . Some fantastic Hubble telescope images.

sallywrites said...

Thermal undies?!

Now there's sexy!

Anonymous said...

Although I can recognise Orion I had no idea that he had all that under his belt.

Peach said...

hey, thank you for freezing yourself to the bone for that fabulous pic - it's gorgeous and while I prefer to get lost in the beauty without knowing what it actually is or why, I think I will go and google too

Charlie said...

thanks from me also for putting up with the elements to get such a striking picture. Really ethereal.

meredic said...

anonymous - quiet in the cheap seats and get your own blog!

buffalodickdy - I used a Meade 10" telescope with a tracking motor and a Canon EOS 400D camera for that one. Plus a lot of patience and a little knowledge.

rosy - thank you

john.g. - I use google sky to help me plan what I am going to try and take. It is good, g=but not as good as freezing your gonads off in the wee small hours :-)

sally - ref above, nothing sexy about chilly testes

sablonneuse - even a good pair of binoculars will let you catch a glimpse of what he is hiding

peach - yes I know what you mean. It is a thing of beauty in itself and stands without explanation. Of course.

charlie - thank you though getting pictures like this is a wonderful treat. Yes it can be cold but seeing stuff like this first hand eases that.

Unknown said...

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Sparkle Plenty said...

FABULOUS PHOTO!!! But, I must be reading something incorrectly. See here, young man, were you flitting about in the altogether--jumblies squealing in agony--when you took this? I salute the naturist, don't get me wrong, but I must now sound the motherly note of, "You'll catch your death of cold!" Either way, go belt down some chicken soup as preventive medicine, please.

Dave said...

Was it that cold? At least you didn't need a welder after staying out that long!!!!

Great shot.

Fi said...

Great photo, great image of you with no clothes on; and there IS an image, it appears even when i shut my eyes. Thank you for a little light relief from the tedium of life.

Anonymous said...

*shyly*: I don't really understand google traps. which bit would be the bait? I'm rather stupid and naive you see...

headless chicken said...

Fantastic photo but now, like Fi, I can't get the image of you with chilly testes out of my head...... definitely my titter for today!;)

Jayne said...

Blimey, your pics are great.