Brian Meyers caught this mystifying shot of the Crab Nebula (M1) in Taurus with his SVX152T. This supernova remnant is located approximately 6,500 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent diameter of 11 light-years. At its center, is the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star 17-19 miles across with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. The star emits gamma rays and radio waves at such high levels, that this nebula is thought to be the brightest persistent source of gamma rays in the sky.

Other Designations: Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A, Sh2-244, LBN 833.

*For more details and an in-depth look at this image, visit Brian’s AstroBin.

Details:

Telescope: Stellarvue SVX152T

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI174MM Mini

Mount: Sky Watcher CQ350

Filters: Chroma SHO 3nm | Antlia LRGB

• Ha – 9h

• SII – 11h10’

• OIII –6h40’

• RGB – 15min each

Accessories: 

• Stellarvue SFFX-1 Field Flattener
• ZWO ASIAIR Plus
• ZWO EAF
• ZWO EFW 7 x 2"
• ZWO OAG-L

Software: Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight, ZWO ASIAIR

References:

M1 - SHO with RGB Stars - AstroBin. (n.d.). AstroBin. https://app.astrobin.com/i/kcza9t

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, December 10). Crab nebula. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula