Super Nova Remnant in Hydrogen-alpha
Chosen as NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, August 30, 2002
This CCD image was taken with a Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 (operating at f/2.84), the Mandel Wide Field Imaging Adapter, SBIG ST10E camera and a CFW8 . It is the combination of the following exposures shot on three different nights in December/January 2001-2002:
12 x 10 minutes
12 x 15 minutes
13 x 20 minutes
In other words, this image took 8 hours and 20 minutes of exposure time! I kept taking more and more exposures to capture a good image since this object is so faint.
This is an enlargement from the full image above
showing the intricate tendrils of woven gass from the super nova.
Astronomers estimate that his SNR is about 100,000 years old. It covers 3 degrees of sky and contains a radio pulsar PSR J0538+2817. It is located in Taurus.
The image was processed using MaxIm
DL and Photoshop using the Grain Surgery plug-in.