Monday, September 18, 2006

The Little Dumbell Nebula (M76)



When I saw this it blew my cotton socks off!!
This image was taken with the Liverpool John Mills University Robotic Telescope (JMU)located in La Palma in the Canary Island. I submitted a job for M76, set up the exposure time etc and waited for the result.

The resulting image was processed with LTImage, which came as a free download from the JMU site and processes FITS type image information. This, along with some processing in Photoshop gave some amazing results! Really pleased, but the JMU telescope seems a bit limited in what objects it offers in the way of observations. The website is is great for schools and has tons of useful information. www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk

Here are the details:

Observation of M76. (The Little Dumbell Nebula)

On 15 Sep 2006 at 00:04:00 GMT.

By the Liverpool Telescope using RATCam.

The exposure was 120.00 seconds using filter HA.

Distance to object: 3.3 thousand light years away

Telescope Dimensions
Height: 8.5 metres
Weight: 24 tonnes
Mirror Diameter: 2 metres
Mirror Weight: 1.25 tonne

No comments: