March Images from the Blue Mountain Vista Observatory
Dick Steinberg
March 12, 2010
Last week we had a nice string of clear, moonless nights at the BMVO. Consequently, there are quite a few images to be shown, if interest and time permit.
First off is a 150' x 100' image containing the cone nebula, Hubble's variable nebula, and the open cluster Trumpler 5.
SkyMap Pro map of the field
The cone nebula (in Monoceros) has been the subject of several APOD's, e.g. a remarkable Hubble Space Telescope view of the object. The glowing red gas is a hydrogen emission nebula excited by nearby massive stars, whose fierce ion winds have sculpted the nebula into its conical shape.
Hubble's variable nebula is also an unusually interesting object. It was the subject of the first official image taken (by Hubble himself) through the Mount Palomar 200-inch telescope: Its shape is somewhat akin to that of the cone nebula and is probably also shaped by intense stellar winds, this time coming from the hot young star R Mon near the apex of the nebula.
Tr 5 (Trumpler 5) is an old, reddened, metal-poor open cluster that seems to be intermediate between a globular cluster and a typical open cluster. The reddening is likely caused by dust absorption due to its relatively large distance (~3 kpc) and location near the galactic plane opposite the galactic center.
Now, three galaxy images from early March:
I. M106 is a beautiful spiral in Canes Venatici, elliptical in shape because of its rather low angle relative to the line of sight. With its narrow emission line spectrum, it is classified as a Seyfert 2 galaxy, with an active supermassive black hole in its center.
II. NGC4038 and 4039, the Ringtail galaxy pair in Corvus, two interacting galaxies with faintly visible long tails (also known as the Antennae). About 40 arc minutes to the SW lies the highly asymmetric barred spiral NGC4027, a peculiar galaxy whose shape seems to be related to a collision during eons past. The strange object a couple of arc-minutes to its south (NGC4027A) may be related to this collision. It appears possibly to be a detached spiral arm.
III. A new 110 minute image of M101, the Pinwheel galaxy in Ursa Major.
object finders: M106, NGC4038, M101
Regards, Dick
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current setup: NP101is f/5.4 -- Paramount ME -- Orion SS Pro v1 -- 5 min subs unguided -- 2.95 arcsec/pixel
