Daily Archives: February 21, 2014

The Long Jet of the Lighthouse Nebula

A pulsar moving at supersonic speeds about 23,000 light years from Earth.
X-ray Image Credit: NASA / CXC / ISDC / L. Pavan et al.

The Lighthouse nebula was formed by the wind of a pulsar, a rapidly rotating, magnetized neutron star, as it speeds through the interstellar medium at over 1,000 kilometers per second. Some 23,000 light-years distant toward the southern constellation Carina, pulsar and wind nebula (cataloged as IGR J1104-6103) are indicated at the lower right in this remarkable image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Energetic particles generated by the pulsar are swept back into the wind’s comet-like tail trailing up and to the left, along the direction of the pulsar’s motion away from its parent supernova remnant. Both runaway pulsar and expanding remnant debris field are the aftermath of the core-collapse-explosion of a massive star, with the pulsar kicked out by the supernova explosion. Adding to the scene of exotic cosmic extremes is a long, spiraling jet extending for almost 37 light-years, but nearly at a right angle to the pulsar’s motion. The high-energy particle jet is the longest known for any object in our Milky Way galaxy.

APOD NASA 21-feb-2014

Related posts:

  1. Supernova Remnant Puppis A
  2. Cosmic Crab Nebula 
  3. SN 1006 Supernova Remnant 
  4. Jellyfish Nebula in the constellation Gemini

NGC2264 in Ha OIII: Cone nebula, Christmas Tree cluster, nebula NGC 2264

f15d2914f36149f4d2dd60804296a289.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-3_watermark_position-6_watermark_text-Copyright Petko Marinov

NGC 2264 is the designation number of the New General Catalogue that identifies two astronomical objects as a single object:

  • the Cone Nebula,
  • the Christmas Tree Cluster,

Two other objects are within this designation but not officially included:

  • Snowflake Cluster,
  • and the Fox Fur Nebula.

All of the objects are located in the Monoceros constellation and are located about 800 parsecs or 2600 light-years from Earth.

NGC 2264 is sometimes referred to as the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Selfmade Super Astrograph 8″ f4
Imaging cameras: SBIG ST- 8300M
Mounts: Skywatcher AZ EQ6 GT
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Selfmade Super Astrograph 8″ f4
Guiding cameras: ALccd5-IIm
Software: Fitswork, Adobe Photoshop CS5
Filters: Baader Planetariun OIII 8.5nm, Baader Planetariun Ha 7nm
Accessories: Pal Gyulai Komakorrektor
Dates: Feb. 17, 2014
Locations: Home Observatory
Frames: 12×900″
Integration: 3.0 hours

Autor: Petko Marinov

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

21 February 2014

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.

Related posts:

  1. Christmas Tree and Cone NGC 2264
  2. Star forming region NGC 2264: The Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster
  3. M1: Crab Nebula in Ha, OIII
  4. Merry Christmas!

The Sun Online and solar activity. February 20, 2014

Solar activity has been dominated by NOAA ARs 1982 and 1976. The latter, even though it decayed in past 24h, produced an M3.0 flare peaking at 07:56 UT, it is now rotating over the west limb. NOAA AR 1982, with beta-gamma configuration, has grown and developed, M-class flares are possible. The
M3.0 flare was associated with radio bursts, and a proton storm that increased the 10 MeV fluxes over the threshold of 10 protons/cm2-s-sr (at 09:00 UT) and reached a peak of 20 protons/cm2-s-sr 30 minutes later (at present is around 10 protons/cm2-s-sr). The fluxes of 50 and 100 MeV protons were also affected and peaked around 3 and 0.7 protons/cm2-s-sr respectively.Three halo CMEs occurred in past 24h. The first one, a full halo at 16:00 UT (LASCO-C2) on February 19, related to a filament eruption close to central meridian. The bulk of the material is heading south, but a glancing blow at the Earth can be expected on February 23 around 15:00 UT (using the measured speed of 430 km/s). The second one was related to a C3.3 flare from NOAA AR 1982 (peaking at 03:25 UT), first seen by LASCO-C2 at 03:12 UT . This CME will most likely arrive to the Earth. Arrival time  expected for February 22 around 16:00 UT, using the measured speed of 830 km/s. The third one occurred in relation with the M3.0 flare from NOAA AR 1976, due to the location of the source (W75), the bulk of the CME is travelling towards the west. Most likely only a shock will reach the Earth. The measured speed is 959 km/s and thus the expected arrival time is  February 22 at 09:00 UT. Due to the speeds, all three CMEs will most likely interact on its way to the Earth. A shock arrived to ACE at 02:58 UT, probably related to an early arrival of the halo CME from February 18. Kp has reached 6 from 03:00 to 12:00 UT due to a southward Bz of -10nT and solar wind speeds in the order of 700 km/s during several hours. More geomagnetic storm periods are expected as Bz is around -7 nT with speeds over 600 km/s.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 +  Imaging Source DMK  + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack
Date: 02/20/14
Time UT: 19:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

 

Related posts:

  1. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 23, 2014
  2. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 19, 2014
  3. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 14, 2014
  4. The Sun Online and solar activity. February 12, 2014